Cool Music Central

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

It's been 40 years since the formation of Bauhaus in Northampton, England, the band that defined goth rock more than any other, and 35 since they played in Athens in one of the first ever indie rock gigs that took place here. Back in those days I was just starting to get into this type of music and "The Sky's Gone Out" was one of the first records I bought with my pocket money.

Unfortunately in '83 I was still too young to be allowed to go to a rock concert while the band split up soon afterwards so I never had the chance to see them in their glory days.

Although I'm not too keen on going to concerts for nostalgia's sake, when I learned that Peter Murphy along with David J would be returning to Athens to play "In The Flat Field", the first Bauhaus album, in its entirety plus several of the band's classics in celebration of their ruby anniversary, I could not resist the temptation to book my seat at the Tae Kwon Do stadium.

After a set by local act The Steams who presented their debut album "Wild Ferment", combining psychedelia with eastern melodies and prog-rock influences, it was time to turn the clock back and revisit the dark side of 1980 as Murphy and his band, featuring David J on bass, came on stage and the first notes of "Double Dare" filled the stadium.

The Steams, live @ Tae Kwon Do (Athens, December 14th, 2018)

It's unavoidable that time takes its toll on all but thankfully great music is timeless and Bauhaus songs retain their formidable power to thrill and move us. Perhaps Murphy's voice was not at its best on this particular evening but it was still more than capable to provide chills and thrills, while his presence on stage remains imposing. The band did a great job in faithfully recreating the Bauhaus sound in all its gothic glory despite the fact that the large venue, which is not built for rock concerts, does not offer the best possible sound.

After the presentation of all nine songs from "In The Flat Field" in the first part of the show, the band returned to perform a selection of highlights from the rest of their catalogue, with "Bela Lugosi's Dead" being, of course, the center piece and tracks like "Kick in the Eye" and "She's in Parties" reminding us of some of our favorite moments of the '80s.

For the final encore, we didn't get "Ziggy Stardust" as we would have liked, but it was time for a few more melodic selections, with "King Volcano" and a cover of "Severance" by old Bauhaus label mates Dead Can Dance closing the show.

Peter Murphy's return to Athens after many moons brought back vivid memories and the undead sound of the early '80s with a legacy that still resonates and influences to this date. Bela Lugosi may be dead but the legend leaves on! Here's the set list and three tracks from the show: