(Apparently) The Best Albums Of 2018

Many publications offer up a Best Of 2018 Album List. And nowadays when anyone can make a record or drop a track as they say, any genre can reach an audience, and anything goes, it is more and more difficult to reach any sort of consensus. Pitchfork summarised the situation nicely in their introduction to their own listing:

In 2018, it felt hard to reach consensus on anything—including music. The heavy-hitters of pop and hip-hop returned, but many disappointed; in fact, sometimes, they were just confounding. More than ever, music felt like a playing field where new, exciting artists were sharing the discussion with the veterans, if not taking it over outright. A sea change was underway, the borders eroded—and music was better for it.

In an attempt to bring together the disparate viewpoints across a multitude of sources I've taken the Top 10 from a number of lists (see sources at the bottom of this post) and averaged them into an overall correlation. This was done by scoring 10 points for 1st place down to 1 point for 10th place.  

Obviously publications have their own preferences and concentrations of genres. I've therefore taken  a wide spread of publications from both sides of the Atlantic to overcome that possible bias.

Lists that published a group of Best Ofs which did not actually order the albums did not fit into my points scoring system and were therefore excluded.

So here goes. This is the definitive list of The Best Albums Of 2018 apparently as voted for across a sample that may be statistically valid. There's no guarantee you'd enjoy any of these and as you will read Eddy didn't think much of many of them.

10. Arctic Monkeys - Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino

The Guardian said: Conceived intimately, on a piano received for his birthday, Alex Turner’s would-be solo album was significantly fleshed out by the rest of the band so the seams became invisible. Guitarist Jamie Cook slots inventively into the strange new shapes these songs took. Matt Helders caresses the drum kit with jazzbo sensitivity instead of pummelling it. The band’s collective backing falsettos never sounded so pitch- perfect. 

Eddy says: A change of direction for the Monkeys which hints at being a bit lightweight at first but is a potential grower. The band confidently embrace keyboards and vibes all at a much slower pace than their frenetic early work.

9. Kamasi Washington - Heaven and Earth

FOPP said: The most striking jazz album of 2018 is undoubtedly Heaven and Earth, the second proper full-length from LA’s Kamasi Washington. A 144-minute opus, it’s split into two halves, each of which would work as their own standalone album, and makes jazz accessible and inviting again even while it dishes out 12-minute detours into interstellar psychedelia. There are many influences at work: the massed percussion of Afro-Latin music, the clipped funk of early ’70s Miles, the spacey synth experimentation of Weather Report, the lush choirs and strings of vintage Hollywood and the pioneering sound of classic bebop. All these are threaded together by Washington and his crack band to create a new, decade-straddling sound.

Eddy says: Epic latin jazz rock funk fusion recalling the likes of Miles Davis's Bitches Brew.

8. Low - Double Negative

Resident said: The complexity lies not in the song structure or melody but in the production and the treatments. The balance between brutal and gentle, punishing and absorbing is what Low have built their career on but here they’ve pushed it to the extreme. With crushing electronics and feedback ridden guitar providing counterpoint to their gentler moments, they sound more vital than ever.

Eddy says: An album of interesting crackles, hums and distortions that creates an eerie doom laden soundscape.

Ok, the 3 albums above represent the usual sort of listening we have come to expect at 6 Album Sunday. Prepare now to enter uncharted territory.

7. Cardi B - Invasion of Privacy

Line Of Best Fit said: We probably all assumed this debut would be an out-and-out hip-hop album. But with its dallies into multiple beats and backgrounds, not to mention the laid bare lyricism, Cardi B’s Invasion conquers over any naysayers.

Eddy says: I quite like this. It's on the grime side of the rap road with hard bass (and lyrics), sharp beats and interesting keys. 

6. Robyn - Honey

NPR said: Honey is Robyn's first full-length solo album in eight years, made after the end of a long-term relationship and the death of a friend and long-time collaborator. Robyn's musical antidote to grief involves avoiding clutter or drama and instead dipping into appealing sounds of gentle beauty that encourage movement without forcing it. Bass lines walk to meet starburst synthesizers, melodies unfold without fuss. There is tremendous warmth and no sharp edges. It's energized but never overwhelming. Robyn's voice is sincere and emotional, but never affected.

Eddy says: You what? I'm wondering if this listing was a good idea. This is most things I don't like about pop music in one summary package. I couldn't listen to that fey voice for more than a couple of tracks.

5. Christine and the Queens - Chris

The Independent said: Héloïse Letissier makes her vintage synths snap, crackle, pop, fizz, freeze, squelch, shimmer and soar. There’s even a shattered glass effect (on Stranger) to complete the Old Skool Electronica bingo card. Treble notes bounce from air-cushioned soles. Bass lines lasso your hips. Chiffon layers of Letissier’s Anglo-French vocals glide around your neck and shoulders and roll them back. It’s ridiculously danceable.

Eddy says: I've dismissed listening to Christine since seeing a snippet on Jools Holland one night but perhaps she deserves another visit. Well, I've given her another visit and I was right. I don't need to hear this banal Wham! like synth pop from the 80s.  Shattered glass effects? So what. The accompanying official videos tell you everything you need to know, even with the sound down. Very average album cover too which, along with the Robyn album, surely proves my Better Artwork = Better Music theory?

4. Idles - Joy As An Act Of Resistance

NME said: Toxic masculinity, Brexit, thug culture, xenophobia – Joe Talbot kicked back against society’s copious modern ills with a passion, power and exuberance that shot Idles’ second album straight to the frontline of the new punk fightback. From the brutalism of Colossus and Samaritans to the emotional hardcore of Cry To Me and pop pogo Danny Nedelko, Joy as an Act of Resistance proved that, in a world of sonic artifice and stylish disguise, a record this raw, righteous and honest could still hit home as hard as a bloke with a perm. 

Eddy says: A couple of things I've noticed about the Best Of lists this year is that they had a very strong showing from two categories: jazz and punk (before a third revealed itself here - solo female pop). The Idles have been making waves this last year I hear, possibly on account of live performances? The album is fast shouty punk rock where The Fall meet the Clash via early Arctic Monkeys, which doesn't do too much for me except dilute this list of mostly insipid pop.

3. Janelle Monáe - Dirty Computer

NPR said: Pulling inspiration from radical predecessors — Josephine Baker, Stevie Wonder, James Baldwin, Grace Jones, David Bowie and most prevalently her late mentor, Prince — Monáe speaks her truth to power across a funk pop soundscape. The album feels like a rose opening to meet the sun, each petal containing a different message. Monáe captures the bliss of sexual fluidity, the eloquent anger and spirituality of black feminism, the temporary high of nihilism, the sandbagged weight of self-doubt and finally the euphoric reckoning of learning who you are. She switches from hummingbird harmonies and sugary pop hooks to fire 16s to denounce haters from every facet of her life.

Eddy says:Mostly on the pappy side of over produced synthetic pop albeit with some luscious moments. A little bit of added edge emerges with some rap (including the lyrical content you expect from the genre) but ultimately sounds like The Spice Girls. Not really my tea.

2. Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour

Pitchfork said: Her inviting outlook is wrought through the record: softly strummed acoustic guitars that blur into sepia haze; boundless pedal steel as conduit for eternity, communing so effortlessly with touches of space-age funk that you wonder why nobody ever did it before.

Eddy says: The album gently rocks along in a modern country fashion. Nicely crafted pop songs fronted by Kacey's pleasant enough voice. Packed full of singles the album would make a decent road record but it's very middle of that road. 

1. Mitski - Be The Cowboy

The Guardian said: Mitski continues to disrupt and update the conventions of indie rock. Gnarly guitars contrast with her extraordinarily nimble, pure voice; there are upbeat disco numbers and delicate, ethereal piano ballads.

Eddy says: A short album of catchy punchy two minute pop tunes with interesting melodies which remind me of Aimee Mann (particularly her Batchelor No.2 album). Decent with fine vocals but I wouldn't generally think remarkable enough to be the album of a year.

Also Rans

The following albums featured in many lists but didn't make the Top 10:

Rosalia - El Mal Querer

Snail Mail - Lush

Courtney Barnett - Tell Me How You Really Feel

Earl Sweatshirt - Some Rap Songs

Noname - Room 25

Sons of Kemet - Your Queen Is A Reptile

The 1975 - A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Hope Downs

Parquet Courts - Wide Awake!

Pusha T - Daytona

Conclusion

I have to say this isn't the most encouraging post I've ever made.  I know music and art appreciation  is personal but if this is the best 2018 had to offer in music then Brexit and Trump is only the start of our problems.

There are only two artists I have heard of before - Low and Arctic Monkeys. Female solo singers have stormed the listings with 6 entries in the top 7.

There seems to have been a trend back to the 80s with some very retro and bland pop. Are the likes of Madonna and Kylie, aka Robyn and Christine, going to be played by anyone next year? Have their albums any chance of making "Best Albums of All Time" charts in the future? Maybe this is the stuff that's filling up the dance floors in downtown New York these days, but it doesn't sit well on my hi-fi.

Around the edges of this soft core of a Top 10 there is a stronger showing bookended by the Arctic Monkeys (reviewed previously on this blog), a critically acclaimed jazz album which I will investigate further, and the Low album that I do have but have not fully absorbed yet, at one end, and, at the other, the Mitski which I will revisit and could catch on, and the Kacey Musgraves which is certainly an accomplished country/rock crossover album if you like that sort of thing.

Have I given all these records enough time? Maybe not. Sure repeated plays allow absorption, but like a good film or book, there has to be an initial way in, something to grab your interest in the early stages. Then again, once access is gained an album may hit the spot initially but then fade long term, or vice versa and be a slow burner.

Overall most of this list doesn't grab me. Maybe it's just personal or maybe in the face of such critical consensus I'm just plain wrong and am missing something; nevertheless I hope 2019 is better. Please comment below if you disagree or have a suggestion for your own particular favourite that should really be in the list. It is only opinion after all.

Sources

Pitchfork
Q
Line of Best Fit
BBC
Consequence of Sound
Rolling Stone
NPR
Vinyl Me
FOPP
Fact
Metacritic
Under The Radar
Uncut
Wire
Time
The Independent
The Guardian
Quietus
Resident
NME

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Log #89 - The New Arctic Monkeys - Still Good But Not As Brilliant

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1. Arctic Monkeys - Suck It and See

2. Arctic Monkeys - AM

3. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

4. Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare

5. Arctic Monkeys - Humbug

6. Arctic Monkeys - Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino

~

You have probably noticed that the Arctic Monkeys are back, with a bunch of gigs, plenty of European summer festival appearances, and a new album, their first in 5 years.

They are also back, not surprisingly after so long, with a new image and a new sound. In a career spanning only 13 years to date, a 5 year sojourn represents a large proportion of the total allowing plenty of time for change (or "progression").

Unfortunately it would seem many of the fans have not moved on with the band and the new album has garnered mixed reviews. An average of only 3 stars on amazon (a site strongly biased towards the positive side) is pretty poor, with currently 31% of customers awarding just the 1 *. One or two armchair reviewers even bemoaned the unavailability of a zero star option! Hashtag harsh.

Is this fair? Is it too early to present a fair assessment? Is it just a knee jerk reaction to something very different to what has gone before?

What the Monkeys can be praised for, again, is doing something new and different. They have rarely stood still over their 6 album output with each album ploughing new furrows although it has to be said the changes have been gradual up until now. This more pronounced change of direction since 2013's stadium rock friendly AM could be just a little bit too much of a shock for the original fans hoping for an "AM2".

The full collection of Arctic Monkeys albums 2006-18

The fast indie thrash of their stunning 2006 debut Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not was gradually watered down through follow ups Favourite Worst Nightmare, and Humbug. The common thread through these three remained Alex Turner's Mike Skinner (The Streets) like delivery of witty and inciteful lyrics backed by skilful guitar riffage and thunderous drumming. 

Arctic Monkeys in the beginning

Yeah I'm sorry I was late
Well I missed the train
And then the traffic was a state
And I can't be arsed to carry on in this debate
That reoccurs, oh when you say I don't care
Well of course I do, yeah I clearly do!
So laugh and joke around
Remember cuddles in the kitchen
Yeah, to get things off the ground
And it was up, up and away
Still it's right hard to remember
That on a day like today when you're all argumentative
And you've got the face on

Growing up with a Mardy Bum in Sheffield

Then came Suck It and See which probably represented the biggest single leap in style between albums to date as the band slowed down and became heavier - a more conventional rock sound that was developed further on the more mature AM. Suck It and See was their most Oasis sounding album, AM had some glam leanings that have been fully embraced on Tranquility.

Arctic Monkeys a bit later on

It is early days for the new album of course, and I strongly suspect it will be a grower but would it be given any air time if it wasn't the Arctic Monkeys? If this was a new debut album from a brand new band it would probably have sunk without trace. In fact it probably wouldn't have been made in the first place.

But that's a largely irrelevant argument. Many artists earn the right to do what they want after a string of success. Many mid period albums by artists were initially received with disappointment only subsequently to become considered masterpieces. Neil Young's On The Beach featured in log #85 is an example although there are literally hundreds. 

Young is a good example, although from a different era. After the success of his Harvest album he deliberately set out to alienate fans and record companies alike only to produce a string of masterpieces in the mid 70s. Perhaps in the 80s he took it too far and was eventually sued by his record company for making records unrepresentative of himself (however that was defined legally is anyone's guess)!

For once the record company was right - Young made some absolute turkeys in the 80s peaking (if that's the word) with Everybody's Rockin', a 50s rockabilly pastiche he made in response to the record company (Geffen) demanding "rock and roll". Young maintained this was a serious project (as was the previous "electronic" album Trans based on the communication difficulties experienced by Young's handicapped son) but the paucity of the album (25 minutes of lacklustre originals and uninspired covers) and accompanying gigs where he wore a shockin' pink suit and sat in a pink car on stage suggested otherwise.

Probably Neil Young's lowest point

Anyway after a decade of rubbish his career nevertheless survived and he came back stronger than ever in the 90s with a return to heavy rock and finding himself being christened the "Godfather of Grunge" as the likes of Nirvana and Pearl Jam became popular.

Arctic Monkeys now

On initial listens I think Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino is a good album that is beginning to grow on me. It's more a brave record than a lazy one. There are some nice laid back tracks with decent grooves and Alex Turner's voice has matured into a pleasant croon like fellow Sheffield singer Richard Hawley, in contrast to his shouty beginnings (his voice was great for their style at the time, and it is now too). Turner's singing is treated to plentiful reverb which does give the sound quite a retro 60s feel. The comparisons to early 70s Bowie are fine by me, and I was also reminded of Radiohead, and the very laid back Americana band Lambchop strangely too especially when Turner goes falsetto. Thematically, both lyrically and musically, the album maintains a continuity throughout. It is impressive the band have plunged into their new project wholeheartedly when there would have been a huge temptation to dilute the whole with some nods back to their previous sound.

From the first bars of the album opener Star Treatment the new sound is startingly - gentle lilting vibes usher in Alex Turner's softly spoken vocal which does immediately reveal some form of identity crisis for UK pop's golden boy:

I just wanted to be one of The Strokes
Now look at the mess you made me make
Hitchhiking with a monogrammed suitcase
Miles away from any half-useful imaginary highway
I'm a big name in deep space, ask your mates
But golden boy's in bad shape.

It's one of the album's strongest tracks. Another is the title track with a lovely rolling bass and stuttered drumming behind a simple effective piano riff. Perhaps the rest of the band are slightly underemployed elsewhere in an album that could be an Alex Turner solo album in all but name, but here the new Arctic Monkeys blossom as one embracing their new exciting direction.

The title track follows a another key cut - American Sports which has some of the best piano on the album and some excellent distorted Jonny Greenwood like guitar. Throughout the album the emphasis is much more on the keyboards and piano, with the guitar less prominent or completely absent:

I love playing guitar but as a writing tool, I’d reached a point where it wasn’t getting me anywhere.

After the first half the standard drops a little. Golden Trunks has a nice distorted guitar break but is a bit lightweight. The catchy Four Out of Five is an obvious single. It is the most Bowie (Let's Dance era) sounding song on the album. The World's First Ever Monster Truck Front Flip with it's fairground organ is a throwaway number.

One or two of the remaining tracks, especially She Looks Like Fun verge on former Arctic trademark riffing although the guitar is watered down. Batphone is a bit all over the place but is saved by an intriguing other worldly slide guitar or keyboard refrain (I don't know which). Finally The Ultracheese is like it says, very cheesy, but I can imagine this Bowie Five Years like ballad becoming a live singalong favourite.

How will we view Tranquility in the fullness of time and in the context of a further albums assuming the AMs carry on? For now the most loyal Arctics fans would probably have to concede it is the weakest of the 6 so far, but where will it sit in the canon in a few year's time? 

The new stuff is good, but it's not as good as the early stuff, which was brilliant.

A reputation and past success gives an artist plenty of time to experiment (or be downright awkward and curmudgeonly in Young's case) - an opportunity Turner and his band have fully embraced. Where will they go next? No one is ever going to deny the Arctic Monkeys a recording contract even if they follow up the slightly tepid Tranquility Hotel with a string of turkeys. Even so 5 1/2 excellent albums is a pretty good return these days for any band where longevity is a rare commodity.

Hear for yourself what all the fuss is about. Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino out now:

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