Hello again folks! Well, 2018 was an experience and I’m thankful we all made it through. If you had the Hereditary soundtrack on a loop all year I wouldn’t be surprised, since the year often felt like a traumatic horror movie; at least if you were paying any attention to the news. Yet as always there were so many great records to distract us, to help us escape from, and to cope with reality. Below you’ll find thirty entries, each with recommendations of which tracks you might want to check out, as well as similar artists.
My number one album this year was completely unexpected and totally life-affirming; a future-pop masterpiece from a transgender woman who made one of the most intensely angelic / sputtering / graceful / anarchic debuts I’ve ever heard – absolutely astounding.
A big dance-party in our bedrooms for all of the queers who released music this year, especially Blood Orange, BROCKHAMPTON, Christine and the Queens, Chris Carter, Elysia Crampton, Deerhunter, DJ Sprinkles, Empath, Jenny Hval, Jlin, Le1f, Lil Peep, Lotic, Janelle Monae, Mr Twin Sister, Colin Self, serpentwithfeet, Troye Sivan, SOPHIE, Moses Sumney, St. Vincent., Syd, Yves Tumor etc. Here’s to a liberating 2019:
30
OUGHT : Room Inside the World
RIYL: post-punk, indie rock, Television, Fugazi, Talking Heads, David Bowie, Scott Walker
Listen to: “Desire”/”Disgraced in America”/”These 3 Things”
Companion LP: Preoccupations : Preoccupations
Listen
29
GANG GANG DANCE : Kazuashita
RIYL: dream pop, neo-psych, new age, ambient pop, Cocteau Twins, Siouxsie and The Banshees, healing crystals, water protectors
Listen to: “J-TREE” / “Lotus” / “Salve on the Sorrow”
Listen
28
JANELLE MONAE : Dirty Computer
RIYL: art-pop, synthfunk, hip hop, neosoul, psychedelic synthpop, Grimes, Brian Wilson, Stevie Wonder, Prince
Listen to: “Make Me Feel” / “Pynk” (ft. Grimes) / “I Like That”
Companion LP: Christine and the Queens : Chris
Listen
27
THOM YORKE : Suspiria Original Soundtrack
RIYL: Radiohead, krautrock, drones, dark ambient, piano ballads, Stockhausen, Can
Listen to: “Has Ended” / “Unmade” / “Suspirium”
Companion LP: JOHANN JOHANSSON : Mandy Original Soundtrack
Listen
26
MARY LATTIMORE : One Hundred Days
RIYL : harp music, ambient, “freak-folk”, Espers, zen,
Listen to: “It Feels Like Floating” /”Baltic Birch”/ “Never Saw Him Again”
Companion LP : MARY LATTIMORE & MEG BAID : Ghost Forests
Listen
25
TIM HECKER : Konoyo
RIYL : ambient, electroacoustic, drone, glitch, Gagaku, post-minimal
Listen to: “In Death Valley” / “In Mother Earth Phase” / “Across to Anoyo”
Companion LP: ALEX ZHANG HUNGTAI : Divine Weight
Listen
24
PLAYBOI CARTI : Die Lit
RIYL : trap rap, cloud rap, southern hip hop, Nicki Minaj, pop, joy
Listen to : “Shoota” (ft. Lil Uzi Vert) / “Poke It Out” / “Pull Up”
Companion LP: Young Thug : Slime Language
Listen
23
THE FIELD : Infinite Moment / GAS : Rausch
RIYL : minimal techno, ambient techno, drone, Kompact Records, mindfulness, new age
Listen to : “Divide Now” / “Who Goes There” / “Hear Your Voice”
Listen to : “Rausch 1-7”
Listen to The Field
Listen to GAS
22
Rosalía : El Mal Querer
RIYL : #Rihanna, #JustinTimberlake, #ArthurRussell, #flamenco, #purepop, #clapping, #globalbass, #reggaeton
Listen to : “Bagdad” / “Malamente” / “De Aquí No Sales”
Listen
21
JON HOPKINS : Singularity
RIYL : ambient techno, IDM, prog house
Listen to : “Everything Connected” / “Emerald Rush” / “Luminous Beings”
Companion LP: RIVAL CONSOLES : Persona
Listen
20
DEAFHEAVEN : Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
RIYL : blackgaze, post-metal, Slowdive,
Listen to : “Night People” / “Glint” / “Canary Yellow”
Companion Album : Mol : Jord
Listen
19
KACEY MUSGRAVES : Golden Hour
RIYL : country-pop, dream pop, soft rock, Miranda Lambert, Pistol Annies, Beck – Sea Change
Listen to : “Slow Burn” / “Oh, What a World” / “Mother”
Listen
18
GROUPER : Grid of Points
RIYL : spare piano ballads, ambient pop, field recordings, Tara Jane O’Neil, fragility
Listen to : “Parking Lot” / “Birthday Song” / “Driving”
Listen
17
A.A.L. (Against All Logic) aka Nicolas Jaar : 2012-2017
RIYL : Nicolas Jarr, deep house, funky, microhouse, sampledelic, “if you don’t know jack about house you’ll love this”
Listen to : “I Never Dream” / “Know You” / “This Old House Is All I Have”
Listen
16
DJ HEALER : Nothing 2 Loose / Planet Lonely Mix
RIYL : ambient, ambient techno, deep house, ASMR, Burial, Whitney Houston, zen
Listen to : “Protectionspell” / “Gods Creation” / “We Are Going Nowhere”
Companion LP: Prime Minister of Doom : Mudshadow Propaganda
15
LET’S EAT GRANDMA : I’m All Ears
RIYL : art-pop, neo-psych, prog pop, post rock, Charli XCX, SOPHIE, Lorde, future-pop
Listen to : “Hot Pink” / “Falling Into Me” / “Donnie Darko”
Listen
14
SKEE MASK : Compro
RIYL : Aphex Twin, Boards of Canada, Autechre, arctic breakbeat, ambient techno, IDM, atmospheric, drum n bass
Listen to : “50 Euro to Break Boost” / “Flyby VFR” / “Kozmic Flush”
Companion LP: Demdike Stare : Passion
Listen
13
AMEN DUNES : Freedom
RIYL : The War On Drugs, heartland rock, psych rock, psych pop
Listen to : “Believe” / “Miki Dora” / “Blue Rose”
Companion LP: Wild Pink : Yolk in the Fur
Listen
12
YVES TUMOR : Safe in the Hands of Love
RIYL : David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, Massive Attack, Oneohtrix Point never, Lotic, James Ferraro,honesty, neo-psych, post industrial, trip-hop, art pop
Listen to : “Honesty” / “Noid” / “Licking an Orchid” (ft. James K)
Companion LP: BLOOD ORANGE : Negro Swan
Listen
11
ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER : Age Of
RIYL : Aphex Twin, ANOHNI, Ford & Lopatin, Trent Reznor, movement in a static space, romantic synth wizardry, glitch pop, art pop
Listen to : “Last Known Image of a Song” / “Black Snow” / “Babylon”
Listen
10
ICEAGE : Beyondless
RIYL : post-punk, art punk, blues rock, The Stooges, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Deerhunter, The Rolling Stones, blood-letting
Listen to : “Under the Sun” / “Pain Killer” (ft. Sky Ferreira) / “Take It All”
Listen
9
MARIE DAVIDSON : Working Class Woman
RIYL : brutal honesty, uninhibited bliss, spoken word, exposing fakes, Essaie Pas, Jim Morrison,
Listen to : “Work It” / “So Right” / “Your Biggest Fan”
Companion LP: ESSAIE PAS : New Path
Listen
8
DJ KOZE : Knock Knock
RIYL : multi-colored deep house, uplifting pop, The Field, Mount Kimbie, Roisin Murphy
Bon Iver, deep house, downtempo, nu-disco. Psych-techno,
Listen to : “Pick Up” / “Muddy Funster” (ft. Kurt Wagner) / “Moving in a Liquid” (ft. Eddie Fummler)
Listen
7
ROBYN : Honey
RIYL : pure pop, deep house, synth-pop, nu-disco, Michael Jackson, Christian Falk, DJ Koze
Listen to : “Ever Again” / “Honey” / “Human Being” (ft. Zhala)
Listen
6
LOW : Double Negative
RIYL : noise pop, post-industrial, ambient slowcore, Bon Iver, David Bowie’s Blackstar, Radiohead’s A Moon Shaped Pool
Listen to : “Disarray” / “Dancing and Blood” / “Always Trying to Work It Out”
Listen
5
BEACH HOUSE : 7
RIYL : Beach House, Cocteau Twins, Mazzy Star, Magnetic Fields, Grizzly Bear, sparkling dream pop
Listen to : “Pay No Mind” / “Drunk in LA” / “Last Ride”
Listen
4
U.S. GIRLS : In A Poem Unlimited
RIYL : art-pop, psych-pop, space disco, Lower Dens, Fever Ray, Destroyer, Jenny Hval, Julee Cruise, PJ Harvey, David Bowie
Listen to : “Pearly Gates” / “Incidental Boogie” / “Poem”
Listen
3
JULIA HOLTER : Aviary
RIYL : chamber pop, experimental orchestral, birdsong, Nite Jewel, Joanna Newsom, Cocteau Twins, Joni Mitchell on DMT, Richard Dawson, Joni Mitchell
Listen to : “Les Jeux to You” / “I Shall Love 2” / “Words I Heard”
Listen
2
TIRZAH : Devotion
RIYL : ambient-pop, neo-soul, glitch pop, Mica Levi, The xx, Jessie Ware, Coby Sey, starts and restarts, sweetness, subtlety
Listen to : “Guilty” / “Gladly” / “Holding On”
Listen
1
SOPHIE : OIL OF EVERY PEARL’s UN-INSIDES
RIYL : PC Music, Mozart’s Sister, Hannah Diamond, Prurient, Charli XCX, Lady Gaga meets Aphex Twin, future-pop
Listen to : “Immaterial” / “Is It Cold in the Water?” / “Infatuation”
Listen
SOPHIE’s offical debut album saved my life this year. Even considering her previous astounding “future forward” work, collected on 2015’s Product, I was just NOT prepared for this one. OIL.. is both a mirror and a balm to our current global situation, but it speaks to a deeper personal truth as well. SOPHIE and incomparable Montreal singer Cecile Believe celebrate their personal trauma with humour and humility, using a warped, blown out-of-proportion cinematic scope, and a strange alien language. To me the album has a narrative of transformation – all the doubt, pain, frustration, lust, anxiety and loneliness that goes along with becomimg your true self, in a smouldering, fascist world that keeps insisting it doesnt WANT your true self to exist. The gorgeous opener “It’s Okay To Cry” stands apart from the same old aesthetics we’ve grown familiar with, proving that SOPHIE contains multitudes. It’s followed by the powerful singles “Ponyboy” and “Faceshopping”, before the spectral “Is It Cold In The Water?” and the astonishing “Infatuation” stun with their simple, gorgeous heart. My favourite musical moment of the year is ambient thriller “Pretending” conjuring an uncertain breakthrough into certified banger and anthem for becoming your true form; “Immaterial”. The beat climaxes as she exclaims, “In the eyes of my inner child/ I could be anything I want/ …Any form, any shape, anyway, anything, anything I want”
