Top 50 Albums of 2018

Happy New Year to all! We begin 2019, our 11th year on Blogger, with the list of our favorite albums of the past year, a well-established tradition of this blog.

Looking back to 2018, it's easy to find plenty of very good albums, but rather difficult to single out a few that stood out above all else to become the obvious choices for Albums of the Year. As a result, perhaps more than in any other year in recent memory,  we've seen a wide variety of albums claiming this distinction in the numerous year-end lists out there, and quite a few surprises. I mean who would bet a year ago that albums by relatively low profile new artists like Mitski, Idles or Shame would be topping year-end lists or that Low's experimental twelfth album would earn such a wide acclaim?

Inevitably, even our choice for Album of the Year is one that upsets the odds, as I would never have guessed back in February, even as I was selecting U.S. Girls' sixth album "In a Poem Unlimited" as the top new release of the month, that by the end of 2018 it would be our choice for the Number One of the Year.

Meg Remy's experimental pop project has come a long way since the lo-fi solo recordings she was presenting us about a decade ago. With her previous record, U.S. Girls' 4AD debut "Half Free" in 2015, we were presented with her most accomplished collection of songs up to that point. Three years later, Remy widens the musical borders of her project even further by collaborating with members of the funk and jazz instrumental collective The Cosmic Range and the end result, the hauntingly beautiful "In a Poem Unlimited", is an undoubtedly impressive accomplishment: a strong, soulful, forward thinking record where personal politics and fluid dance-pop music combine to create the perfect protest record for our current turbulent times.

Elsewhere near the top of our list, you will also find other strong female voices with Anna Calvi's third and perhaps best album to date, the magnificent "Hunter", and Courtney Barnett's sophomore full-length "Tell Me How You Really Feel", while the jangly guitars of Rolling Blackouts C.F. earn the Australian band the title of Debut Album of the Year with the majestic "Hope Downs".

Without any further ado, check out below Cool Music Central's Top 50 Albums of 2018, based, of course, on what we were able to lend a careful ear to so far. As always, a more complete version of this list will appear here, sometime in 2019.

Top 50 Albums of 2018

1.   In A Poem Unlimited - U.S. GIRLS

 

2.   Hunter - ANNA CALVI 

 

3.   Hope Downs - ROLLING BLACKOUTS COASTAL FEVER 

4.   Tell Me How You Really Feel  - COURTNEY BARNETT 

5.   7 - BEACH HOUSE 

6.   Wide Awaaaaake! - PARQUET COURTS 

7.   Freedom's Goblin - TY SEGALL 

8.   All Nerve - THE BREEDERS 

9.   Goat Girl - GOAT GIRL 

10. Songs Of Praise - SHAME 

11. Joy As An Act Of Resistance - IDLES 

12. Endless Scroll - BODEGA 

13. Beyondless - ICEAGE 

14. Snow Bound - THE CHILLS 

15. Wanderer - CAT POWER 

16. Possible Dust Clouds - KRISTIN HERSH 

17. Aviary - JULIA HOLTER 

18. Marauder - INTERPOL 

19. Bottle It In - KURT VILE 

20. Microshift - HOOKWORMS 

21. Snares Like A Haircut - NO AGE 

22. We're Not Talking - THE GOON SAX 

23. Lush - SNAIL MAIL 

24. Vessel - FRANKIE COSMOS 

25. Be The Cowboy - MITSKI 

26. What A Time To Be Alive - SUPERCHUNK 

27. Digital Garbage - MUDHONEY 

28. Jericho Sirens - HOT SNAKES 

29. Kazuashita - GANG GANG DANCE 

30. I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life - TUNE-YARDS 

31. Double Negative - LOW 

32. And Nothing Hurt - SPIRITUALIZED

33. Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino - ARCTIC MONKEYS 

34. Dove - BELLY 

35. Sparkle Hard - STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS 

36. The Church Of Simultaneous Existence - THE AINTS! 

37. Hell-on - NEKO CASE 

38. Clean - SOCCER MOMMY 

39. Rebound - ELEANOR FRIEDBERGER 

40. Twin Fantasy - CAR SEAT HEADREST 

41. Pinned - A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS 

42. Twerp Verse - SPEEDY ORTIZ 

43. Twentytwo In Blue - SUNFLOWER BEAN 

44. Little Dark Age - MGMT 

45. Always Ascending - FRANZ FERDINAND 

46. Marble Skies - DJANGO DJANGO 

47. The Official Body - SHOPPING 

48. Felt - SUUNS 

49. There's A Riot Going On - YO LA TENGO 

50. I'll Be Your Girl - THE DECEMBERISTS

Top 50 Tracks of 2018

Cool Music Central waves goodbye to 2018 with the traditional year-end selection of our favorite tracks of the year: 50 great songs selected from albums, singles and EPs released in the last 12 months.

As usual, our singles list includes only one track from each artist or band in order to help us with the difficult task of narrowing down the selection to just 50 songs and also to represent as many of our favorite releases of the year as possible.

Check back next week for the list of our favorite albums of the year. In the meantime, hit play in the playlist below to listen to our Top 50 Tracks of 2018 led by U.S. Girls' "Pearly Gates", a soulful slice of retrofuturistic art pop describing a woman's efforts to gain entry to the heavenly realm by seducing a predatory St. Peter, a song which according to Meg Remy was inspired by a story recounted to her about a man attempting to convince a woman to engage in unprotected sex by saying “Don’t worry, I’m really good at pulling out!”.

Top 50 Tracks of 2018

 1. Pearly Gates - U.S. GIRLS

 2. Talking Straight - ROLLING BLACKOUTS COASTAL FEVER

3. How Did This Happen!? - BODEGA

4. Don't Beat the Girl Out of My Boy - ANNA CALVI

5. Woman - CAT POWER

6. Lemon Glow - BEACH HOUSE

7. Comeback Kid - SHARON VAN ETTEN

8. Need a Little Time - COURTNEY BARNETT

9. Make Time 4 Love - THE GOON SAX

10. Nobody - MITSKI

11. I Shall Love 2 - JULIA HOLTER
12. Nervous Mary - THE BREEDERS
13. The Man - GOAT GIRL
14. Danny Nedelko - IDLES
15. Total Football - PARQUET COURTS
16. MX Liberty - THURSTON MOORE
17. Wheel of Fortune - PROTOMARTYR
18. CIA Man (NSA Man Violation) - SNAPPED ANKLES
19. Over And Over And Over - JACK WHITE
20. Complex - THE CHILLS
21. Loading Zones - KURT VILE
22. Four Out of Five - ARCTIC MONKEYS
23. The Rover - INTERPOL
24. Shiny One - BELLY
25. Heat Wave - SNAIL MAIL
26. Your Dog - SOCCER MOMMY
27. Apathy - FRANKIE COSMOS
28. For You Too - YO LA TENGO
29. Refute - STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS
30. Crisis Fest - SUNFLOWER BEAN
31. Fanny - TY SEGALL
32. Catch It - ICEAGE
33. Static Resistance - HOOKWORMS
34. Brean Down - BEAK>
35. You Can - GABE GURNSEY
36. IDK About You - FEVER RAY
37. Heart Attack - TUNE-YARDS
38. Lotus - GANG GANG DANCE
39. Surface To Air - DJANGO DJANGO
40. Curse of the Contemporary - LUMP
41. Little Dark Age - MGMT
42. Put Your Money on Me - ARCADE FIRE
43. Last Lion of Albion - NEKO CASE
44. Severed - THE DECEMBERISTS
45. Nervous Young Inhumans - CAR SEAT HEADREST
46. What a Time to Be Alive - SUPERCHUNK
47. Never Coming Back - A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS
48. Lucky 88 - SPEEDY ORTIZ
49. I'm Your Man - SPIRITUALIZED
50. Disarray - LOW

Top 20 Albums of the first half of 2018

Just after the halfway point of 2018, we are taking a moment to single out the 20 albums we've enjoyed the most among the numerous new releases of the past six months. The order of presentation is not totally random, but we'll avoid numbers in our Top 20 list as rankings change almost daily at this point in time. Let's just say that U.S. Girls, Beach House and Rolling Blackout Coastal Fever have delivered the albums with the best odds for challenging for 2018's Album of the Year title!

In a poem unlimited - U.S. GIRLS 

7 - BEACH HOUSE
  

 Hope downs - ROLLING BLACKOUTS COASTAL FEVER
  

Tell me how you really feel - COURTNEY BARNETT
 

Wide awake! - PARQUET COURTS
 Freedom's goblin - TY SEGALL
All nerve - THE BREEDERS
Goat Girl - GOAT GIRL
I can feel you creep into my private life - TUNE-YARDS
Microshift - HOOKWORMS
Lush - SNAIL MAIL
Songs of praise - SHAME
Snares like a haircut - NO AGE
What a time to be alive - SUPERCHUNK
Jericho sirens - HOT SNAKES
Twin fantasy - CAR SEAT HEADREST
Tranquility base hotel + casino - ARCTIC MONKEYS
Dove - BELLY
Twerp verse - SPEEDY ORTIZ
Clean - SOCCER MOMMY

Listening Habits 03.2018

"In A Poem Unlimited", the second album by U.S. Girls for 4AD and sixth overall since Meghan Remy first introduced us to her solo recording project about a decade ago, is her most accomplished and impressive work so far. The album, recorded in collaboration with members of the Toronto-based funk and jazz instrumental collective The Cosmic Range, uses electropop and disco rhythms to create songs that constitute vivid character studies of women grappling with power and protest the lies and hypocrisy surrounding us. Personal politics and fluid pop music combine to create a perfect protest record that fits perfectly with the current turbulent times.

Among the best albums we’ve listened to in the first few months of 2018, we also have "All Nerve", the excellent fifth LP by The Breeders, who make a spectacular return to form after a 10 year absence, this time with the same lineup that gave us the classic "Last Splash" in the 90s. First single "Wait in the Car" is the perfect companion to "Cannonball" in The Breeders "best of" playlist, while tracks like "Nervous Mary", "All Nerve", "Blues at the Acropolis" or the Amon Duul II cover "Archangel's Thunderbird" can easily stand next to their past glories.

In the 10 years between the last two Breeders albums, Ty Segall has released more than ten records, steadily building up an impressive discography that spans the whole spectrum of rock ’n’ roll, from garage and punk, to hard rock and blues. His latest work, "Freedom’s Goblin", adds also soul and funk touches to the mix, while somehow still managing to include nods to every single rock genre that has ever influenced him without ever losing the plot (as, I’m afraid, is the case with Jack White’s latest offering). The end result can easily be counted among his best efforts so far, a new peak to an already impressive run.

Check out below the 12 albums we've listened to the most in the last month and a half, the first batch of LPs that stood out for us in the 2018 release calendar:

Top 12 Albums

1.   In A Poem Unlimited - U.S. GIRLS
2.   All Nerve - THE BREEDERS
3.   Freedom's Goblin - TY SEGALL
4.   Plunge - FEVER RAY
5.   Songs Of Praise - SHAME
6.   Twin Fantasy - CAR SEAT HEADREST
7.   There's A Riot Going On - YO LA TENGO
8.   Little Dark Age - MGMT
9.   Always Ascending - FRANZ FERDINAND
10. I'll Be Your Girl - THE DECEMBERISTS
11. Boarding House Reach - JACK WHITE
12. Rough Trade Shops Counter Culture 17 - VARIOUS ARTISTS

Top 12 Tracks

1.   Pearly Gates - U.S. GIRLS
2.   Blues At The Acropolis - THE BREEDERS
3.   She - TY SEGALL
4.   IDK About You - FEVER RAY
5.   Nervous Young Inhumans - CAR SEAT HEADREST
6.   For You Too - YO LA TENGO
7.   One Rizla - SHAME
8.   Over And Over And Over - JACK WHITE
9.   Little Dark Age - MGMT
10. Feel The Love Go - FRANZ FERDINAND
11. Severed - THE DECEMBERISTS
12. Shadow - CHROMATICS

U.S. Girls - Pearly Gates (ft. James Baley)

January - February 2018 Playlist

We had several excellent new releases lately and there is a lot more cool new music coming our way in the next few weeks. Check out below 10 of the best new tracks that made their debut in the first couple of months of 2018:

Courtney Barnett - Nameless, Faceless (from the album "Tell Me How You Really Feel", coming in May)

Beach House - Lemon Glow

U.S. Girls - Rosebud (from the album "In A Poem Unlimited", out this week)

Belly - Shiny One (from the upcoming album "DOVE", the band's first in 23 years)

Car Seat Headrest - Nervous Young Inhumans (from the album "Twin Fantasy")

Frankie Cosmos - Being Alive (from the album "Vessel", coming at the end of March)

 Wye Oak - The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs (from the album "The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs", out in April)

 The Decemberists - Severed (from the album "I'll Be Your Girl" out in March)

Dream Wife - Hey Heartbreaker (from their eponymous debut album)

Goat Girl - The Man (from their eponymous debut album, out in April)

Listening Habits 01.2016

January's new releases schedule was pretty strong (as you can see here), but for our first Listening Habits post of 2016 we are going to focus on albums and tracks from 2015 that we have come by between December and January: the late discoveries of 2015, some of which made it in our Albums of the Year list at the very last minute, while some were left out only because they came in our possession slightly late. But, of course, it's never too late to discover and enjoy good music, regardless of release date or inclusion in any year-end list.

The album we've enjoyed the most over the last couple of months was "Half Free", the 4AD debut by U.S. Girls, the recording project of Illinois-born, Toronto-based artist Meghan Remy. She has been releasing experimental, lo-fi electronic music for several years, for various smaller indie labels, but it is 2015's "Half Free" the record that finally gives her the wider acclaim she deserves. 60's soul and girl-group influences mix with dub-pop and hip-hop inspired beats, while Remy sings about the everyday struggles of characters whose stories were inspired by the work of director John Cassavetes and Bruce Springsteen. It's a captivating listen from start to finish, shifting musical shapes and styles and creating some of the most fascinating pop we've listened to in 2015, with highlights including "Damn That Valley", "Window Shades" and "Woman's Work".

Here's what else we've been listening to lately from the tail end of 2015:

Top 12 Albums

1.  Half Free - U.S. GIRLS
2.  Fading Frontier - DEERHUNTER
3.  Silver Bullets - THE CHILLS
4.  Return To The Moon - EL VY
5.  Divers - JOANNA NEWSOM
6.  Holding Hands With Jamie - GIRL BAND
7.  Why Choose - SHOPPING
8.  Abyss - CHELSEA WOLFE
9.  Cranekiss - TAMARYN
10. Feels Like - BULLY
11. Rough Trade Shops Counter Culture 15 - VARIOUS ARTISTS
12. Why Pay More? - THE SOFT PINK TRUTH (download here)

Top 12 Tracks

1.  Snakeskin - DEERHUNTER
2.  Damn That Valley - U.S. GIRLS
3.  America Says Hello - THE CHILLS
4.  Return to the Moon (Political Song for Didi Bloome to Sing, with Crescendo) - EL VY
5.  Pears For Lunch - GIRL BAND
6.  Straight Lines - SHOPPING
7.  Leaving the City - JOANNA NEWSOM
8.  Carrion Flowers - CHELSEA WOLFE
9.  Cranekiss - TAMARYN
10. Trying - BULLY
11. Patchwork - DEMDIKE STARE
12. What's A Computer? - THE SOFT PINK TRUTH

U.S. Girls - Damn That Valley