2018 TOP 20
20. Snail Mail: Lush
My most controversial/optimistic view when it comes to albums is that albums can still be very good even if only half of the songs are good, sometimes even less (I’m talking about American Football here because I am usually thinking about American Football because I did not have fun time in tenth grade). Luckily for Snail Mail, I didn’t find the second half of her 2018 release bad, it just wasn’t nearly as memorable as the first half. Luckily for me, the first half of “Lush” is 20 minutes of gorgeous music. From its muted, vaguely nostalgic intro, to the grander “Pristine”, to the lonely and lost “Stick”, the album never loses this dewy/dreamy quality that sits just on top of whatever room the sound occupies. It’s a weighted blanket: comforting and soft sounds you can wrap yourself in to, for just one minute, feel safe which I needed in 2018. I don’t know if “Lush” will be one of the top twenty albums I think of when I look back at 2018 in a few years, but right now, I can’t imagine a 2018 without it, meaning it most definitely belongs here on my top 20 albums of 2018.
19. Joyce Manor: Million Dollars to Kill Me
Life can get substantially easier when you figure out the simple truths about yourself. I discovered that I was a Pisces through and through my senior year of high school, when a classmate, upon hearing it was my birthday, told me, “Everything about you makes sense now.” Despite my protests, nothing has or will change the fact that I am deeply emotional and day-dreamy, essentially, a Pisces you can spot a mile away. I’m also an emo bitch, most likely a side of effect of the Pisces thing, and unlike those emotionally healthy people that grew out of their emo phase in ninth grade, I don’t think I ever will. I’ve come to terms with this, and this led to me realizing that Joyce Manor is a fucking stellar band. They continue to be stellar in their 2018 album “Million Dollars to Kill Me”, which delivers the frantic energy and enticing guitar-driven melodies that made me fall in love with their 2014 album, “Never Hungover Again”. “Million Dollars” is much more subdued than their previous works, gentler even. To me, it doesn’t come off as being washed up but rather as a natural course of, maturation. They’re growing into their new sound wonderfully, with the album’s title track easily being one of my favorite songs released this year. “Million Dollars” does the best thing an album can do, which is keep me excited for the band’s future while keeping me totally happy with the band’s present.
18. The Vaccines: Combat Sports
Speaking of high school, look whose back with a killer release! Seven years after their breakout album, “What Did You Expect from the Vaccines?”, and around five years after I started listening to them, The Vaccines’ “Combat Sports” sounds just as bright, bouncy, British, and boyish as they did when I found them, which is a relief. One of my worst habits as a music listener is my tendency to find an album from an artist who has plenty of other great, acclaimed releases and never listen to anything other than the first album I found. This has happened repeatedly; despite how much I love, “Black on Both Sides”, “It’s Dark and Hell is Hot”, “Hospice”, and “Slanted and Enchanted”, I have never listened to another Mos Def, DMX, or Hospice album, and I only recently gave Pavement’s “Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain” a shot, which was smart because “Crooked Rain” might be better. The Vaccines were, until this year, stuck in this limbo, as I had generally ignored their previous two releases, though from the little I’ve heard from “Come of Age” that might have been the right decision. However, I am glad to say that “Combat Sports” is a triumph. It brings the fun and charisma of “Norgaard” and “Post-Breakup Sex” in tracks like “I Can’t Quit” and “Out On the Street” while keeping the slower sincerity of “Somebody Else’s Child” on tracks such as “Maybe” and “Young American”. It’s my “roll down the car windows” album of 2018 and I can’t wait to see if anything can top it in 2019.
17. Saba: Care for Me
It would have been a shame if I had missed Saba because I don’t really care for Chance’s “Everybody’s Something” and “Coloring Book” as a whole. It would’ve been a shame if my brother hadn’t convinced me to give Noname’s “Room 25” a shot and I never heard “Ace”, her track with Smino and Saba. It really would’ve have been a shame if, after listening to “Room 25”, my phone had died as I sat in the library, as it was on 1 percent when I decided to give Saba a shot and watch his NPR Tiny Desk concert. And after my long road to Saba, what I found was not only, in my humble opinion, the cutest rapper out now (I’m open to other opinions on the cute debate, but Saba’s smile is number one and it’s not particularly close), but also the best, young, male rapper I found this year (number one is probably the best but that is also up for debate. I enjoy talking about these things feel free to hit me up). His flow on “Life” is one of those “oh yeah I guess old heads have a point this fast, intricate, carefully crafted hip hop is astounding” moments, and the hook on “Broken Girls” is inescapably sticky and fun while keeping the darker, heavier atmosphere of the song. Yet, the most impressive thing about Saba is his storytelling, which I think is a majorly underrated aspect of rapping, and his double-song “Prom/King” was one of maybe four tracks that made me cry this year (it was as I walked into my astronomy class, which is terrible in terms of timing but great in terms of memorability). I love Saba now, which is to say, I “Care for Him”.
16. Antarcticgo Vespucci: Love in the Time of Emails
Not much makes me warier of a piece of art than critique of modern technology, i.e. the internet, social media, and the like (also on the list, woke music about the daughter you just had and the words “void”, “calloused”, and “bruised” showing up in a poem. So much bad, youth spoken word, just so so much). So, under normal circumstances, I would have skipped over Anarctigo Vespucci’s new release, but since “Post”, “Worry”, and “To Leave or Live in Long Island” are some of the best albums I’ve listened to this year, I’d say Jeff Rosenstock deserves the benefit of the doubt. And “Love in the Time of Emails” makes the record four for four (Wendy’s, if you’re listening, bring back spicy nuggets), though it would be stupid to ignore Chris Farren’s contributions on the album. Farren is the star here, with his vocal ability to switch between the poppier tracks like “Kimmy” and “White Noise” to the more pop-punk moments in “Breathless on DVD” and “Not Yours” being what defines the album’s aesthetic. It is power-pop and a great album and it is, somehow, only my second favorite Jeff Rosenstock project this year.
15. The Pillows: FooL on CooL generation
No one reading this should feel even remotely interested in listening to this album, unless, by some chance, you happen to be a fan of the anime FLCL. If that is the case, the Pillows (the band responsible for FLCL’s soundtrack, which is one of the best parts of the show) has an album out on spotify, featuring iconic songs Last Dinosaur AND Little Busters. “FooL on CooL generation” is the soundtrack to FLCL’s two sequels, FLCL Progressive and FLCL Alternative, neither of which I have seen (and I don’t know if I really want to. I’ve heard a lot of mixed reviews and it makes me nervous), but the fact that I haven’t seen the shows hasn’t stopped me from falling head over heels for this release. It has the same vibe as the FLCL soundtrack I’ve been listening to all year, which is to say, the Pillows are very good at creating rock music that can both blend into the background and grab your head with two hands and bang it for you. And though this soundtrack is missing killer tracks like “Ride on Shooting Star”, “Instant Music” which is one of my favorite songs of the year, and “Hybrid Rainbow”, “FooL on CooL generation” is way more consistent all the way through and is an overall much more enjoyable listen. Everything I love about FLCL is reflected in the Pillow’s music; they’re able to establish a nostalgic dreariness without the music sounding mundane and then shatter that oppressive peacefulness with this incredibly fun, invigorating crescendo that leaves me feeling victorious. Because that’s what FLCL is about. It says “life can be boring and when we are young, we often try to grow up too fast and we miss how whacky things around us are. But if you let life happen around you, life is wild and fun and, sometimes, if you’re lucky or patient, you’ll win”. And yeah, in the show, victory can come in the form of using a Gibson Flying V as a bat to send a baseball-shaped bomb the size of a small school building back into space and saving your entire, boring little town. Other times, its beating your dad in an airsoft gun fight. Sometimes, you win but you’re not the hero, in fact, you were just there. Is all of this conveyed through the music alone on “FooL on CooL generation”? Probably not, but if you’ve watched the show, hopefully you can at least see why it’s what I get out of this album. And if you haven’t, it’s only six twenty minute episodes (and made by the people who made Neon Genesis Evangellion, if you’re a weeb reading this. Though, I will warn you, the shows have nothing in common except for a whiny, little boy as the central protagonist). FLCL changed a lot about my view of art, from how and why it should be made to what makes art good and effective. I will always be thankful to it, and by extension, the Pillows, for how they shaped my life and continue to provide me with some killer entertainment.
14. Kids See Ghosts: Kids See Ghosts
2018 was a rough year for a lot of people, and, in a lot of ways, Kanye West made it worse. Overall, I would say he definitely made it worse for me, being a fan of his. I thought his first release of the year, “Ye”, was as uninspired as it was uninteresting. What I love about Kanye is that all of his prior works sounded like he had an idea and wanted to make the most intricate, grandest, and dopest version of that idea he could. “Ye” doesn’t sound like it has half the effort of even “Life of Pablo” and was simply a disappointment. It wasn’t as nearly as his antics online, from his recent spat with Drake to his public devotion to the right wing, the latter leading me to ignore this album for awhile after its release. I loved Kanye, and my favorite Kanye album is “808s & Heartbreak”, the Kanye album with the most Kid Cudi inspiration, but with all the negativity Kanye had brought me in 2018, I didn’t think “Kids See Ghosts” would be worth it. And it wasn’t; even now I’d say it was a net negative year for my relationship with Kanye, but goddam if this album isn’t fantastic. It’s ambitious Kanye again, teamed up with this raw and emotionally open Kid Cudi. “4th Dimension” has an almost “Jesus Walks” feel to its beats. The album opens on this big, clouds-in-the-sky sample followed by a silky-smooth Pusha T verse followed by Kanye’s erratic, ad-libbed gunshots, indicating, “yes Kanye is back on his bullshit but in a new way” which is how the best Kanye albums start. The album does fall off at the end, I think, which is especially tough when the album is only 7 tracks and 23 minutes. I love a short album, but if it’s not consistent, every bad song is a bigger percentage of the album that’s bad. I’m still lower on Kanye leaving 2018 than I was going in, but this album does nearly everything it can to keep him in my good graces.
13. Pusha T: Daytona
It’s hard for me to look at “Daytona” now without comparing it to “Kids See Ghosts”. Both were released by GOOD Music this year, both are seven tracks and around 20 minutes long, and both were produced by Kanye West. So what Pushes “Daytona” ahead? A few things. One, holy shit Pusha T is really good at rapping. I grew up pretty sheltered, especially when it came to music. This lead to first rap song I ever fell in love with being Eminem’s “Mocking Bird”, which I was only able to listen to on my cousin’s hacked DS. This also lead to me missing Clipse’s “Grindin” and the rest of Pusha T’s career, until I got into Kanye West my freshman year and heard him absolutely devour his verse on “Runaway” (probably still my favorite Kanye song). This is all to say, man I wish I had known about Pusha T longer to save me from misguidedly believing that Eminem was ever the best rapper alive (to clarify, I don’t think Pusha ever was either. But I don’t think I ever would have put Eminem over anyone if I knew how many amazing rappers were out there so, thanks mom) (side note, I’m convinced that Spotify has some sort of agenda, because I’ve listened to “Grindin” way more times than I have “Weird Honey” but “Grindin” wasn’t on my Top 100 of 2018 and “Weird Honey” was? Just release the raw data Spotify, let me see exactly how many more times I listened to “My Boy” than “Provider” and I’ll be happy). Second (back to why “Daytona” is higher than “Kids See Ghosts”), I think the peak of “Daytona” is higher than “Kids See Ghosts”, meaning, I think “The Games We Play” is better than “Feel the Love”. KSG has more tracks that I like, but there is really nothing that comes close to “The Game We Play”. It’s on the shortlist for my favorite songs of the year; it may even be one of my favorite rap songs period. From Pusha’s heavy, pendulum flow, to the bars, to the Samurai Champloo-esque beat its everything I want in a rap song. He doesn’t kill it on every track, sadly, but this song makes “Daytona” one of 2018’s unforgettable albums.
12. Clairo: diary 001
At times, it feels like there is just too much music out there, especially in the rap and indie scenes. It doesn’t help when the aesthetics and sounds all sort of blend together. I wouldn’t say that Clairo’s “diary 001” break through the of lo-fi, indie, Bandcamp white noise cloud. Rather, she runs it through an air purifier and uses her sound to fill a balloon and asks you what your favorite animal is. It’s a fun album to listen to, which I can’t say for every pop or indie album I’ve listened to this year. It’s a really fun album to sing along to, which is easy, since Clairo’s writing is as simple and inviting as it is honest and vulnerable. There’s not much to parse but there’s plenty to enjoy, even if the EP is only fourteen minutes long (barely longer than Car Seat Headrest’s SONG Beach-Life-In-Death which was my third favorite song from the band that delivered my least favorite live performance). I did feel a bit strange putting an EP on this list, but considering how short some of this years best albums were and the fact that there are other EPs I loved from this year, I would be lying to myself if I kept “Diary 001” off my list or put it any lower.
11. Curren$y, Freddie Gibbs, and The Alchemist: Fetti
There are always the artists you want to enjoy. I really wanted to love Freddie Gibbs’ other 2018 album, the self-titled “Freddie”, and for the first few listens I did. Yet, as the plays piled on, I realized that the album was just okay. It had almost everything I loved about “Pinata”, the album that made me fall in love with Freddie’s tough, braggadocious style (Gibbs’ persona is a kind of rap game Gaston from Beauty and the Beast). Sadly, I found its production got old quickly and the latter songs dip off. It was disheartening. A few months later, as 2018 seems like it may finally be wrapping itself up as it headed into December, I hear Gibbs has another album with New Orleans rapper Curren$y and producer the Alchemist. As of right now, I’ve only had a few weeks with this album and I’ve got to say it deserves this number 12 spot. Yes, I’m wary of recency bias, as it took a bit for me to sour on “Freddie” but there are a few things that give me a bit more confidence in “Fetti”. First is the production. The entire album has a hollow, shadowy vibe that creates space for Gibbs and Curren$y to thrive in, as well as lending the project a sense of cohesion that doesn’t sour into mundanity (man does 4:44’s production get repetitive). Second, both rappers really shine in this album. I’ve been a fan of Gibbs before, but this is my first time listening to Curren$y and shame on me. He’s smooth and sounds extremely New Orleans, like the old coworkers that tried to convince me that A.I was ten times the player Kevin Durant is and ever will be became one of the slickest rappers of 2018 (if anyone is interested, my old coworkers were also New Orleans rappers and would rap almost every shift. Let’s just say they were better at basketball analysis then they were rapping). What really makes “Fetti” work, though, is the interplay between the two rappers. It’s almost like (back to basketball for one last time) the duo of Dame Lilliard and CJ McCollum. Are either the best rapper out right now, no and I wouldn’t say it’s particularly close. But on any given night they can have the best performance, and over the season their team is generally successful. Part of that success is, while the duo are also in close in terms of skill, Portland definitely belongs to Dame and “Fetti” is, in my opinion, clearly Curren$y’s album. He’s the best part of the majority of the songs, but on the rare occasion he does falter a bit, Gibbs is there to make sure the song still slaps, see “Now and Later Gators”. “Fetti” might not stay my twelfth favorite album of 2018 forever, but it’s great enough for me to keep me rooting for these two.
10. Harunemuri: harutosyura
There aren’t a ton of reasons for me to like Harunemuri’s 2018 album “harutosyura”. Most of the album isn’t in English, which should be a problem for me considering I primarily listen for lyrics (although I think I could make an argument that English is no longer an obstacle, as I am currently getting back into k-pop for the fourth time in my short life. Though, considering there are two other albums on my list made by Japanese artists so maybe I’m just a weeb). The album is extremely experimental, with plenty of songs layered with heavy effects, and melodies ranging from poppy to rock often within single songs, which is nothing to say of the vocal performances. Harunemuri seems to love this rapid, almost anxious rambling pace when delivering her lyrics, closer to spoken word poetry than traditional singing, yet there are places where the music drives her to place where she, and often myself while listening along, has to scream. And I love that. I like how easily this gets my heart racing, how it keeps me off-balance always guessing what’s coming next, how at times the music can feel like a spectacle. After months of listening to this album, there still aren’t any individual songs that stick out, as the album feels like a cohesive unit that demands to be listened to as such. It has momentum, both the individual songs and the project have a kind of centrifugal force that pulls me in and keeps me within its orbit. This album is a tough recommend (unless you just happen to be a huge fan of Claire de Lune, which briefly appears on this album and is easily the strangest sample I’ve heard all year) but its also easy for me to see why fans of this album, including myself, love it.
9. Kendrick Lamar: Black Panther Album Music From and Inspired By
Sometimes, the world gets lucky. Everything aligns, the planets, the stars, and one of the best directors gets one of Hollywood’s biggest IPs and gets the worlds best rapper to do the soundtrack AND somehow it still manages exceed expectations (oh also they got one the hottest actors alive to be the primary antagonist and though he did not exceed expectations in terms of hotness, definitely met them and made his kinda underwritten character very appealing). It’s crazy to me that this movie came out this year, as this year has felt like was the rumored, uncut version of Black Panther that clocked in at like five hours or something crazy like that. Then again, I can’t imagine it coming out any other year. This album was a chance for some of music’s big names to get music out before releasing full projects this year: 2 Chainz, Khalid, SZA, Vince Staples, Jorja Smith, Anderson .Paak, Future (unfortunately? Verdicts still out on “slob on me knob” personally), and Travis Scott, not to mention Kendrick, ScHoolboy Q, and Isiah Rashad whose only music this year is on this album. So yeah, if you are a fan of literally any of those artists, this is a good album to check out. It’s almost like our generation’s we are the world, except instead of funding a charity for Africa, the crew of Black Panther’s soundtrack (and to a further extent, everyone behind the movie) are celebrating the massive impact and dominance they have over American culture. It’s a well-earned victory lap, as well as an incredibly well made and enjoyable one.
8. Travis Scott: Astroworld
While trying to figure this year’s top twenty, I was surprised by how far up my list Travis Scott’s “Astroworld” made it. I think a few months spent complaining about its length and reading about how Sicko Mode is this generation’s Bohemian Rhapsody had soured me on the project as a whole (it’s not, in case anyone is wondering. Sicko mode isn’t even the best song by either Travis or Drake. I still think Travis’ best song is Maria I’m Drunk and Drakes is Know Yourself and now I’m sad again because I’m thinking about how disappointing Scorpion was). What I forgot was that Travis managed to craft arguably his best album to date, and one of my favorite albums in 2018. He continues to adapt Kanye’s peculiar ability to get the most out of artists, allowing them to fit into the album’s specific tone or aesthetic while still sounding like themselves (Travis also takes the “let’s get a Bon Iver feature to fit onto this rap song” mantle from Kanye, which I never thought I’d see). Are these features a crutch for Travis? Sure, he’s still only an ok rapper at best and the worst tracks on the album are the ones where Travis is by himself and has to showcase that. But that only applies to 6 of the 17 tracks and in his defense, the opening track, Stargazing, is fantastic despite the lack of features. In fact, Astroworld may have the best four songs of any album this year, with Sicko Mode being the best song on the project (though a Nav-less Yosimite would be stiff competition). The album is as diverse as it is good, constantly shifting up tempos and moods. One moment it can be jamming on No Bystanders (which has a “BITCH!” comparable to Sheck Wes’ on “Mo Bamba”) the next its close and eerie with 21 Savage on NC-17, which, can I take a minute here to talk about what a year it’s been for 21? Aside from this verse, which was my favorite of his this year, he’s fantastic on Metro Boomin’s “Not All Hero Wear Capes” and 21’s own “i am > i was”. He seems to consistently better every year and at some point, he’s gonna be unarguably a top 5 rapper out. Shit, he might already be there. Back to Travis, my biggest fear with this album is that it doesn’t feel like Travis’ sound has necessarily evolved. “Astroworld” feels, at time, like Travis cleaning up and trying to perfect a sound he muddied up on “Birds In the Trap”. 2018 was a year of new heights for Travis, but here’s to hoping he can fly even higher.
7. Young Thug: On the Rvn
I’ve never been quite as ready for someone to break a promise as I was when Young Thug declared that he wasn’t going to release any more music in 2018. Of course, being Young Thug, he’s released three projects in 2018 (not to mentioned the teased “Barter 7”), with the last of these being the EP “On the Rvn”. The EP is only six songs, clocking in at a quick 22 minutes in which Young Thug showcases every reason I continue to love Young Thug. His songs are a great balance of fun and turnt, as Thug has a sort of swiss army knife utility along with an ability to identify exactly what a song needs from him. Whether that means switching up flows, singing, playing with tone/inflection, adlibbing, or utilizing autotune, he knows what is going to make him and, quite often, his feature sound the best. Take my two favorite tracks, “Climax” ft. 6lack and “Sin” ft. Jaden Smith. Despite 6lack’s experience as an r&b singer, Thug takes the singing responsibility on the hook with this breathy falsetto that is sampled throughout all of 6lack’s verse. Thus, 6lack’s cool, smoother voice is highlighted and gives the entire track an almost lacquered feel. Meanwhile, on “Sin”, knowing that Jaden has a penchant for delivering his verses in a breezy, flowy, not-quite sing-songy style, Thug goes for his more conventional, deeper voice and focuses the emphasis and rhythm of his verse. Thug’s plodding grounds the song while Jaden is allowed to create the songs height. To top it all off, Thug has a song with Elton John, in which he blows the legendary singer-songwriter out the water. Jeffery just loves adding to his GOAT case. This isn’t Thug’s best project or even close, but since he’s easily one of my favorite rappers out right now, I’ll get a ton of mileage from any above average project he drops. (Final thing before I leave, “Audemar” is his best song this year and I want to find a way to frame his “skrrt”s on that song and hang them on wall as my most prized possession).
6. Brockhampton: Iridescence
The worlds’ best boyband has a new sound. And it’s exciting! Just maybe not as exciting as it could be. It’s understandable, I can’t imagine it’s easy to follow up the release of three mixtapes in twice as many months, as well as the well-deserved explosion of popularity that comes from dropping some of the best and freshest sounding hip hop of 2017. Considering all the buildup, “Iridescence” does well to show that Brockhampton is still growing and still great, just in a new way. After the group’s (correct) decision to kick out one of its most important members after sexual misconduct allegations came out, many, including me, were curious about the direction their sound would take. From “Iridescence”, it seems that their answer is less of a role for Kevin Abstract (which is sad for me, because he’s still my favorite musician of the group. It was clear from the singles released prior to “Iridescence” that his presence was going to be lessened going forward. Hopefully that changes). and Matt Champion (who, after four albums, I still can’t remember what any of his verses are about? Like they sound good I just don’t know what the fuck he’s trying to say) and more opportunity for Dom (the best rapper of the group), Merlyn Woods (the cutest member), Joba (the most exciting/highest variance member), and Bearface (the hottest if I was still in middle school/a local). “Iridescence” is Brockhampton’s most melodic project yet and feels the most vulnerable, which are both exciting propositions. Yet, it’s a bit too long and there are some experimental moments like the ending of “Vivid” and some moments that sound pulled out of the Saturation Series that sound a bit old hat like “Where the Cash At”. At the end of the day, this is only Brockhampton’s third best album (it’s like the Dark Souls 2 of the Brockhampton discography. Also, this is mostly for my brother if he’s reading this, after going back and listening to all the Brockhampton albums, I admit that Sat 3 is the best overall. My favorite songs are still on Sat 2, but Sat 3 is the better album. You win). Still, at their third best, it’s good enough to be one of my favorite and most exciting albums of the year.
5. Ichiko Aoba: qp
I think one of the most powerful things a meal or song or any piece of art can do is evoke something from your childhood. Like no matter how old I get, when I make myself Vietnamese porridge and add too much black pepper, that first bite is always going to remind me of my grandmother taking care of me when I was sick. Ichiko Aoba’s “qp” is an fantastic album on its own, but what lands it here on this list is its ability to evoke the calming sounds of the “Basket of Plums” cd I would listen to as a kid. The cd is a compilation of songs written by the Plum Village Monastery, a Buddhist monastery founded by Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh. It was a mainstay in my house growing up, my early music library consisting mostly of “Basket of Plums”, “Abbey Road”, and the Vietnamese karaoke cassette tapes “The He Tre” (which probably are to thank for my ability to enjoy music where I have no idea what the singers are saying). That being said, it’s not like “qp” doesn’t stand on its own merits. Aoba’s voice has this immediately intimate quality to it, which when paired with her ability to create wispy and intricate melodies makes some songs sound how dewy spiderwebs look. Yet, there’s nothing overwhelming about her music. It’s familiar, friendly, and comforting, all without crossing the language barrier. If you ever have a night where you can’t fall asleep, maybe there are too may things to do when you wake up or too many things happened during the day, give “qp” a try. Maybe you’ll get lucky and it’ll bring you back to a simpler time.
4. Jeff Rosenstock: POST
Looking back, “dumbfounded, downtrodden, and dejected” is not only a great way to kick off an album and the new year but also a great warning to what 2018 had in store for all of us. This album’s January 1st release represented a lot of 2018 for me; how much fun the year would be, how tumultuous and chaotic the year would be, how the year would take an eternity to end (Let Them Win is a good song but it has no business being 11 minutes long). Most importantly, starting in the new year with “POST” was indicative of just how much Jeff Rosenstock I would listen to this year. I’ve spent the entire year going through his catalogue, starting with “POST”, moving onto my favorite of his albums, “WORRY”, before checking out his time with Bomb the Music Industry, then finding out his project with longtime friend Chris Farren, Anarctigo Vespucci, had a new album (see number 16 on this list). The guy is good at making music and he’s made a lot. Of all the things Rosenstock does well, from writing simultaneously catchy and furious lyrics to composing fantastic instrumentals (I’m a huge fan of the drums on this project and became an even bigger fan after seeing him live and realizing that the drummer was Asian! I’ve seen maybe a total of 15 Asians at rock shows over the year and the drummer was probably the first I’ve seen onstage), I think it’s the tremendous amount of energy that he’s able to cram into songs that keeps me coming back. Take the one-two punch of “Yr Throat” into “All This Useless Energy”. Both songs are about this force that’s trapped in the body and it manifests itself, not only through the lyrics and Rosenstock’s vocal performance, but in this nervous/excited energy that radiates out from the music into you and it sounds like I’m listening to the audio equivalent of being exhausted and drinking a red bull, only to have your heart pounding while the rest of the body is total limp. It also helps that it sounds like Rosenstock is trying as hard as he possibly can on every track, sometimes to the point where it sounds like he thinks his effort wasn’t quite enough. It’s the same desperate/motivated feel that I love about Panucci Pizza’s “Don’t Tip the Delivery Boy” and that I thought was missing on “Ye”, and since “POST” is built on it, it’s remained one of my absolute favorite albums of the year.
3. Vince Staples: FM
In terms of everything outside of rap, Vince Staples is my favorite rapper by a longshot. From his twitter, to his Hot Ones appearance, to every interview or video I’ve ever seen of him (especially the video where he and Hannibal Burress discuss the real or fake tough guys of the NBA), he comes across as incredibly funny, clever, charismatic, and enigmatic. All of those attributes came across on his first album “Summertime ‘06”, though, I think that album suffers from running on too long. The first CD is close to perfect, and while the second half has some good songs, I think it does more harm than good for the album as a whole. That’s not a problem with “FM”. Being only 22 minutes, every song is important, and every song is fantastic. It’s Vince doing what Vince does best: bringing his gritty, sobering storytelling to bright, bouncy, interesting beats. Yet that’s not all Vince brings on “FM”. The entire album is strung along by this radio show theme (with a personal highlight being the “New earlsweatshirt – Interlude” but more on him in a bit) that makes the short album flow by even faster. The album also benefits from having a clear best song (makes the album stand out more in my memory when there’s one track I always want to go back to), in my opinion, which is “FUN!”, a song with near infinite replayability (the line “fried catfish at the ritz in Japan” stands out as one of my favorite of the year) and a really FUN music video (my second favorite of the year, behind This is America). Vince is quickly reaching the point where I stop deeply wanting a musician to release more music and, instead, just sit back and enjoy what they’ve given me so far (the list is Earl after this year, Frank Ocean, Outkast, and the Mountain Goats). There’s nothing quite as exciting as one of your favorite musicians release an album and it turns out to be your favorite, and that’s exactly what he has done here with “FM”.
2. Earl Sweatshirt: Some Rap Songs
My favorite rapper dropped a new album! For the first time in three years! And I love it!
To top it all off, this is the first project he’s released since I’ve become a fan of his, which always makes that album a little more endeared in my heart (the same reason why the Mountain Goat’s “Beat the Champ”, Kendrick’s “To Pimp a Butterfly”, and Kanye’s “Life of Pablo” all hold special places in my heart). I had invested so much into the release of the album, from Earl’s song on Vince’s album to the two fabulous singles Earl released before the album to freaking about the two seconds of audio he released on his Twitter a few weeks before the album rolled out. Which is why I was disappointed the first time I listened to the album. I think I was expected some sort of perfect masterpiece after three years of not releasing music, some manicured and particularly perfect album, something close to what I got from Frank Ocean’s “Blond”. But that’s not what “Some Rap Songs” is. “Some Rap Songs” is weird, highly experimental, and incredibly open, like looking at an open wound someone cut for the sake of art. And after a couple dozen more listens, I love it. Earl’s production is one of my favorite things about his music and he continues his streak of picking these heavy, static-y beats, now laced with highly modulated samples. It’s a lovely contrast, with Earl’s deadpan, brutal and honest lyrics backed by these eclectic, unpredictable beats. It turns out I can’t not love Earl’s music; it’s my musical funny bone. It’s why I, a generally indecisive person, was so quick to decide he was my favorite rapper. The burst that starts off “Ontheway!” hits at the base of my spine and the beat on “Peanut” leaves my jaw numb. His line “lot of blood to let” off “The Mint” is on the short list of lyrics I would want to turn into a tattoo. The closer is sunnier than any song I’ve heard Earl release but still sounds distinctly like Earl. Every time I come back to this album, I find something new to love. These are some of the best rap songs of the year, and who knows, at this rate this album may be a classic in my eyes when his next album drops.
1.Tierra Whack:Whack World
In honor of my favorite album of 2018, I’ll keep this review ultra-brief. Tierra Whack’s “Whack World” is as fun and entertaining of fifteen minutes that is out there. A perfect, peculiar blend of pop, rap, techno, and country(?!), it’s the actual closest thing this generation has to Bohemian Rhapsody. With the amount of music being released everyday being larger than ever and the fact that we have more access to all that music, it’s remarkable that Tierra Whack already has her own distinct, remarkable voice. I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited for a musician career. It feels great.
