2018 end of year lists

Super lists? You do realise they both contain Paul Weller?

Feels good to know that our two votes alone will ensure a high placement for Wellah.

finally gave that daughters album a spin today. quite enjoyed it but definitley agree with kev on the swans comparison. listened to the pill album too which had passed me by completely, thought that was pretty good too.

despite it being so obvious i had no idea goatman was the man from goat will check that out too at some point.

Need a bit more time to flesh out my top...oh, let's say 15 this year, (or maybe 2-3 more, just to ensure macca gets at least 1 vote), but here's my top 10 gigs of the year. It was a down year, for reasons similar to JP's (young kid, living in the suburbs etc) but still some good stuff.

10. Herbie Hancock. I went on a huge Miles Davis kick 3-4 years ago, and always made a point of seeing any of his band members whenever they've been around since, catching Chick Corea, John Scofield and Jack DeJohnette. But Herbie is a member of the 2nd great quintet (and also he is Herbie Hancock) so I paid extra to sit up front at our local jazz festival this year when he came around. Glad I did. It was wonderful to watch him switch from piano to keyboard mid-song, watching the interplay between his band, and for the first time in my life, actually enjoyed watching someone play a keytar. Goddamn amazing.

9. Sloan. My beloved record club killers played a show in one of my favourite local venues this year, no opener, two sets, most of their (great) new album, and a bunch of deep cuts mixed in as well. Love them.

8. Beck. I reckon this will be the only time I'll ever see him live, so I was thrilled that he brought the hits, and a song or two from morning phase/sea change. Fantastic show, fantastic band. Even the new songs were great.

7. Nick Lowe & Los Straightjackets. This might have been higher if not for the fact it was at a festival (in a small tent) and he only had 75 minutes, of which 20 were taken up by Los Straightjackets doing 4 songs by themselves mid-set. Nonetheless, he brought out a couple of Jesus of Cool numbers, including my all time fave 'so it goes', so I can't complain. Love Basher.

6. Sturgill Simpson. On stage before the above-mentioned Beck set. He had about 75 minutes and dispensed with the country/horns/any excess and went straight for the rawk. Amazing guitar-player, amazing songs, amazing show. Just wish it was longer.

5. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Saw them twice this year, once in Montreal, and once in Toronto as a last-minute replacement when Liam and Ashcroft had their show cancelled 90 minutes before it was supposed to start. This was the first one in Montreal. Started out solid as always, but once they broke into Rifles (which I hadn't seen them do in 15 years) 13-14 songs in, it just kicked off. Finally got to see them do in like the rose, followed by US government, six-barrel shotgun and spread your love...just absolutely massive.

4. David Byrne. Like nothing else I've ever seen. You HAVE to see (and I emphasize the 'see' there) this one.

3. U2. I didn't like this nearly as much as the 'songs of innocence' tour (mainly because of the setlist choices and because 'songs of experience' is a pretty rank album), but it was still amazing visually and the ending was pretty cool.

2. Paul McCartney. As I texted one of my buddies 4 songs in: "HOIR N SECTIONM!!!!" I wish he'd mixed the setlist up a bit more to take advantage of the horns, but it somehow actually made "let em in" tolerable, which I didn't think was possible. Got a bit boring in the middle, but that's more down to me having seen him too many times than anything on his part. He's Paul McCartney, he was a beatle. He played for 3 hours. He's great.

1. Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds. Got a seat in the 2nd row for this one, and it was a perfect spot to watch the band, which is miles better than the one from the last tours. Sharrock is a far better drummer for what Noel wants than that fat bearded guy, and Gem is, well...Gem is Gem. Liked the keyboards and horns and lady vocalist, and the scissor player is just stupid fun. And Noel has finally got the frontman schtick down, I think. Also didn't look at the setlist going in, so I had no idea what he'd play. The main set was by numbers, but the encore of 'let the lord shine a light on me', go let it out and all you need is love was hilarious fun. Best Gallagher show I've seen since oasis split.

I don't listen to much music these days. Been in a real funk for most of the year and just can't be fucking bothered to be honest. However I did fall in love with IDLES.

So my list is as follows ...

Album of the year

01. IDLES - Joy As An Act Of Resistance

Single of the year

01. Fontaines D.C. - Boys In The Better Land

I pay you a compliment and you throw it back in my face. I hope this isn't the example you're setting your kids, JP

To stop me from tinkering endlessly, my top 20:

20) CHVRCHES — Love is Dead
19) The Prodigy — No Tourists
18) TT — LoveLaws
17) Black Foxxes — Reiði
16) We Are Scientists — Megaplex
15) Snail Mail - Lush
14) Kurt Vile — Bottle It In
13) Frigs — Basic Behaviour
12) Thom Yorke — Suspiria
11) Johnny Jewel — Themes For Television
10) Manic Street Preachers — Resistance Is Futile
9) Meg Myers — Take Me to the Disco
8) Mien — MIEN
7) Beach House — 7
6) Soccer Mommy — Clean
5) Dilly Dally — Heaven
4) Mitski — Be the Cowboy
3) Courtney Barnett — Tell Me How You Really Feel
2) Interpol — Marauder
1) Black Rebel Motorcycle Club — Wrong Creatures

See what you did there

Chvrches are the dullest band on the planet.

Nice one Fuzz, there's a few things on there I've not heard of, will have a look.

srk's top....(checks) 18 of the year

18. Chilly Gonzales - solo piano III
17. Paul McCartney - Egypt station
16. Calexico - the thread that keeps us
15. Van Morrison - The prophet speaks
14. David Byrne - American utopia
13. Black Rebel Motorcycle club - wrong creatures
12. Jim Cuddy - constellations
11. Cowboy Junkies - all that reckoning
10. Kamasi Washington - heaven and earth
9. Roger Daltrey - as long as I have you
8. Johnny Marr - call the comet
7. Paul Weller - true meanings
6. Elvis Costello - look now
5. Richard Ashcroft - natural rebel
4. The Coral - move through the dawn
3. John Coltrane - both directions at once
2. Gaz Coombes - world's strongest man
1. Sloan - 12

Speaking of which, Frigs are only on there after you mentioned them a while back and I liked what I heard, not seen them mentioned anywhere else before or since.

The Q list is out so here it is (DON'T COUNT THIS ONE, BARNY):

50. The Orielles — Silver Dollar Moment
49. Manic Street Preachers — Resistance Is Futile
48. Kamasi Washington — Heaven and Earth
47. The Good, the Bad & the Queen — Merrie Land
46. Cardi B — Invasion of Privacy
45. Mac Miller — Swimming
44. Panic! At the Disco — Pray For the Wicked
43. Everything Is Recorded — Everything Is Recorded
42. Sophie — Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides
41. Lykke Li — so sad so sexy
40. Kids See Ghosts — Kids See Ghosts
39. Cat Power — Wanderer
38. Bill Ryder-Jones — Yawn
37. Beach House — 7
36. Eleanor Friedberger — Rebound
35. Julia Holter — Aviary
34. Go-Kart Mozart — Mozart’s Mini-Mart
33. Shame — Songs of Praise
32. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks — Sparkle Hard
31. Florence + The Machine — High As Hope
30. Kurt Vile — Bottle It In
29. Gaz Coombes — World’s Strongest Man
28. Neko Case — Hell-On
27. Daniel Avery — Song for Alpha
26. U.S. Girls — In a Poem Unlimited
25. Father John Misty — God’s Favorite Customer
24. Elvis Costello & The Imposters — Look Now
23. Tracey Thorn — Record
22. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever — Hope Downs
21. Low — Double Negative
20. Spiritualized — And Nothing Hurt
19. Pusha T — Daytona
18. DJ Koze — Knock Knock
17. Ty Segall — Freedom’s Goblin
16. Mitski — Be the Cowboy
15. Blood Orange — Negro Swan
14. Courtney Barnett — Tell Me How You Really Feel
13. Gruff Rhys — Babelsberg
12. Kacey Musgraves — Golden Hour
11. Interpol — Marauder
10. Anna Calvi — Hunter
9. Paul Weller — True Meanings
8. Janelle Monáe — Dirty Computer
7. Idles — Joy as an Act of Resistance
6. Christine and the Queens — Chris
5. Parquet Courts — Wide Awake!
4. Robyn — Honey
3. The 1975 — A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships
2. Let’s Eat Grandma — I’m All Ears
1. Arctic Monkeys — Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino

I've got a Top 50. Started my write-ups this morning and am at no.44. Aiming to have it done by Christmas Eve but perhaps that is a little ambitious. We'll see.

Why are none of you listing Estrons?

I'm still writing up my top 40 albums, but this year I'm going also going to do a little overview of the year in other area's starting with gigs.

This year was a record breaking year for gigs, I went to 87, which topped my previous best by 20. Obviously with this amount of gigs, as well as the great, there will also be a fair share of disappointments. By far the worst gig I saw all year was Panda Bear who turned up a mumbled through a few songs standing behind a laptop, I lasted 20 minutes before leaving. Also disappointing gigs from both Ty Segall who I love on record and one from Black Midi who also make the top of my list, they had a gig that was plagued with technical problems and shit sound.

I've found myself delving more and more into smaller and more local bands this year, there are some great young bands coming through in TCOTU at the moment, a number of whom I'm really excited about seeing where they go and a lot of these gigs, in smaller venues, were amongst my favourites of the year. I'll delve a little deeper into this area in another post.

I saw both Goat Girl and Black Midi the most, five times each, Saw Gurr four times, and Insecure Men three.

Anyway, here's my top 20 gigs of 2018 (I've included the support band in certain gigs where they had effect on the whole gig experience):

1. DUDS supported by The Rebel - The Lexington - 25th Jan
2. Black Midi s/b Jerskin Fendrix - The Windmill - 12th June
3. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - All Points East at Victoria Park - 3rd June
4. Insecure Men - Queen Elizabeth Hall - 6th Nov
5. Squid s/b Egyptian Blue - The Windmill - 13th Oct
6. Misty's Big Adventure - Camden Assembly - 16th June
7. Electric Soft Parade - The Hospital Club - 25th July
8. Parquet Courts - The Roundhouse - 12th Nov
9. Goat Girl - The Windmill - 29th Jan
10. U.S Girls - The Scala - 16th May
11. Noname s/b Sampa the Great - Koko - 28th August
12. Thee Oh Sees - The Forum - 3rd Sep
13. Terry s/b The Homosexuals - Moth Club - 18th Sep
14. Wand - Village Underground - 16th Nov
15. The Rebel s/b Dry Cleaning - 19th Dec
16. Gruff Rhys - Barbican Centre - 12th Sep
17. GZA s/b Sugar Hill Gang - The Forum - 25th Aug
18. Sauna Youth - Boston Music Room - 27th Nov
19. Gwenno - Hoxton Hall - 12th April
20. Protomartyr - The Scala - 10th May

Let's start with those records that nearly made it to the 30 positions awarded with Soapy points (if only the 1975 had released their album a bit earlier!!).

31. Belako - Render Me Numb, Trivial Violence

3rd record by this Basque band doing some kind of electro shoegaze Strokesy thing, for some reason I haven't caught them live yet which might be the reason of this not being higher.

32. Sunflower Bean - Twentytwo in Blue

A Fleetwood Mac lite indie record with millenial colouring and detours.

33. Charles Bradley - Black Velvet

Late entry onto my list. I got more into him after his death, so this might be a bit of being thankful in retrospect. This can be considered an scattered compilation of mostly available material, but his voice is simply incredible and the backing band(s)/production are so tight too.

34. The Orielles - Silver Dollar Moment

There's not a lot of people doing a baggy twee sound, so that's a point for them. Being a debut, the whole record is not very consistent and there's a bit of a lull in the middle, but I'd say they have a bright future.

35. Young Fathers - Cocoa Sugar

You know I'm not a big fan of genres like hip hop or glitch or whatever, but here there's also soul and gospel, so it all could be called art pop making it easier for me to swallow. The flow of the record is one of its strengths, with many sketches never overstaying, but I truly miss a song that hits me a little harder, a climax.

36. Our Girl - Stranger Today

Floorboard rattling bass, jazzy scrawls and stabs and detuned horns punctuate anxiety and release into the lushest of ambient loneliness. Nah, just joking! This is another ordinary guitar based record, really.

37. Haley Heynderickx - I Need to Start a Garden

She's obviously talented, and the standard girl-with-guitar tracks are well done and quite pleasant. But it's in Worth it, where she channels Angel Olsen, or in Oom Sha La La's unexpected doo-wap that she gets me.

38. Cullen Omori - The Diet

I have a soft spot for this guy and his pop sensibilities, it all gets a bit samey and doesn't have a big song like Cinnamon but all the songs keep a valuable quality.

39. Let's Eat Grandma - I'm All Ears

I can appreciate and enjoy this kind of modern pop music, lots of different styles crafted together while making it all sound consistent enough. Unfortunately, I can't really get into the most saccharine songs and there are a few of them.

40. King Tuff - The Other

He got tired of the slacker character he had created and decided to separate himself from guitar riffs and garage sound. It doesn't always work but it's nice to watch him back again.

30. Bodega - Endless Scroll

Regular post-punk is not my favourite genre and they're particularly repetitive but live they're a different beast and seeing them helped me to love the record more. Short, vibrant and to the point, Jack In Titanic and Charles are way ahead the rest for me.

29. Autoescuela - quattro

Spanish lofi (nearly nofi) pop with weird lyrics talking about Asturias, food, bus travels, football players and more. Quite charming.

28. Ezra Furman - Transangelic Exodus

First song is like Springsteen covering MGMT and it can just go downhill from there, really. He took more risks here, firstly I wasn't really sold on it as it's less fun than their previous records, but it's probably more consistent, production's richer and the added bleakness works quite well.

27. Anna von Hausswolff - Dead Magic

Hypnotic and somber, mostly an organ droning with these incredible bursts of wolfwoman-like howls and powerful chants. Comparing it to Nick Cave would do a disservice for both, and that's quite a compliment. Ancient, tribal, possessed but in control. Dark, dark, gloomy, dark as fuck.

26. La Plata - Desorden

Debut from this sightly hyperactive Valencian post-punk band, nothing to call home about and quite samey, but at the same time you can find some good melodies and that combination between passion and disaffection we've all felt at some point.

25. The Go! Team - Semicircle

Their previous one is probably my favourite of them and although this is as different from it as a Go! Team album can be, it still has plenty of energy, good vibes and the big band works out quite well.

24. Ty Segall & Freedom Band - Freedom's Goblin

Ty's leaning towards fuzzy funkier jams and he still knows how to mix melodies and guitar pyrotechnics, but besides that there's not enough meat here to deserve such a long duration. Specially because it all ends up sounding like Ty. But we know him and we love him like that, even if all his other releases from 2018 were mostly crap.

23. Grapetooth - Grapetooth

A duo formed by one of the Twin Peaks boys and a friend, the songs that sound like Mick Jagger fronting New Order are unstoppable. If the whole album was like that, like a happier Future Islands, it would be an amazing party album. Unfortunately, they tried some other ideas that don't work that well.

22. Parquet Courts - Wide Awake!

Their breakthrough. Not a lot different, but I guess you couldn't call them danceable until now. I enjoy this a little less than their previous output, appreciate the aggressivity and themes throughout but at some points can't connect with the songs. One of the most interesting guitar bands at the moment nonetheless.

21. Superorganism - Superorganism

Not sure if they'll have a long life following this. For me it doesn't sound too modern like some people say, more like a rework and mix of some mid 00s run of the mill indie in the meme era, bordering silly but also quite entertaining.

20. Rolling Blackouts C.F. - Hope Downs

It's mostly fine but I feel like I should maybe like it more, it's still high on my list because there's a lack of jangly guitar bands lately. Prefer their debut EP, but this still has lots of lovely dueling guitars, although it sounds all a bit clean or sanitized.

19. Caroline Rose - Loner

Quirky indie pop with some humour here and there, its diversity and the production work are some of its strengths.

18. The Goon Sax - We're Not Talking

I really don't find their debut special at all so I think this is mostly made by the production choices and extra instrumentation, more than the songs itselfs. Also, having three different voices is a plus.

17. Sonny Smith - Rod for Your Love

Angel Olsen and the wonderful ballad they share here were my entry points to Sonny and this record. Might be a semi-household name, I never listened to him before nor I know why he put aside the Sunsets tag or if the results are very different. This record is simple indie pop americana and the quality is kept throughout.

16. Gruff Rhys - Babelsberg

I didn't want to like this one, his previous efforts mostly bored me and I'd rather hear some new SFA songs. But this collection of chamber pop is neat tbh, the string arrangements work without taking too much protagonism and the songs are catchy and varied enough.

15. Twin Peaks - Sweet '17 Singles

This is a compilation of singles released during 2017 (yep, I'm a cheating bastard), but although I enjoyed a couple of these from the start, it's been all along this year where I've realized the craft and quality of them all, more than I initially thought. One of the best bands around in the quite garage/slighty psychedelic/very Rolling Stones thing.

14. Carpenter Brut - Leather Teeth

I'd use a Spanish word for this, and I believe tacky is the right translation but anyway. Good fun this, 80s Carpenter given a French electrohouse sheen mixed with the cheesiest bits of the hair metal. It reaches lower highs than on the trilogy EPs, with more songs including vocals but I still find it enjoyable enough, it never drags and gets me pumped more easily than it probably should.

13. Parcels - Parcels

They do sound like a cross between Daft Punk and The Beach Boys, but that doesn't make them any favour. Production's lush, songs are funky and grooves are fine (for a white trope anyway), BUT -and it's a big but- they lack a lot of bite.

12. The Vaccines - Combat Sports

What did you expect from The Vaccines? Mark IV.

11. Arctic Monkeys - Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino

Sometimes I feel a bit apologetic with some of my picks but not so much with this one. See, I'm not the biggest Arctics fan. I've just really enjoyed the process of letting these brooding scifi songs grow on me while reading about different interpretations of lyrics regarding space travels, moon taquerias, dealing with modern life when youre rich and failing to be Waits or Cave. And that's unheard of.

10. Albert Hammond, Jr. - Francis Trouble

You don't need me to talk about Albert Hammond Jr. again, right? He's reaching amazing (and surprising) consistency levels now that nearly everyone has abandoned this sound. Oh, and rest in piece Pete Shelley, God bless you.

9. Kero Kero Bonito - Time 'n' Place

Not as good as their EP from this year where they started with this more "rockier" sound, but the first half is probably my favourite vinyl side of the year (if that's still a thing). Pure bliss, really packed with brilliant melodies, a genre of their own.

8. The Voidz - Virtue

Hodgepodge of an album where variety and pace are its virtues (ha), working surprisingly well as a collection of songs but maybe lacking big highlights. Julian Casablancas is mostly annoying lately, but I have always enjoyed the way he builds his songs so I wasn't shocked to enjoy this. I must say some people praised it a bit too much though.

7. Courtney Barnett - Tell Me How You Really Feel

Her debut didn't really hit me hard, but I think this one is more direct, maybe careless and, I don't know, more solid for me in every aspect: from the production, to melodies, the flow, etc. Lyrics are still fine but it's all about the hooks for me.

6. Fraser A. Gorman - Easy Dazy

This totally overlooked sophomore effort has slowly got under my skin, his debut was mostly a popish Dylan but this one is a no-rush, calm, softer affair. The female backings are really tasteful and deserve as much praise as the rest.

5. Hinds - I Don't Run

Again (like some adjacent entries), I didn't fully buy the whole hype with their first release, but the melodies on this one got me from the start, the two lead singers work very well together and know how to craft these kind of garage songs.

4. Mitski - Be The Cowboy

The short and varied vignettes she brings here seem to be underdeveloped for some, but they really hide big songs under that short length and given time ended up making it irresistible for me. It made me eager to listen to the songs I like and not to care too much about the less appealing ones, which stopped being so that after a while.

3. The Lemon Twigs - Go To School

An operatic take on being different at school and related matters, except with a gorilla and Todd Rundgren. Characters in the story are quite developed and it surprisingly makes sense all and all. Seriously, these brothers are incredibly talented in every aspect. It might seem a bit too bloated initially but there's a lot of detail and work to each guitar lick, drum fill or vocal harmony.

2. Car Seat Headrest - Twin Fantasy

I'm not interested in the "it's a 2011 release" debate, because back then nobody did listen to it. And regarding the production updates, just listen to Bodys... Will is a great manufacturer of indie rock songs with different parts and exciting ups and downs. Lyrically is a nice depiction of a teenage distance relationship gone wrong (universal even for non queer people). Plus all the mirror structure, both in the record (start vs end) and with the old one shows a lot of care and effort.

1. MGMT - Little Dark Age

I've made some MGMT claims over here in the past, and the truth is they should be a bigger band, so influential in the neo-psychedelia canon. What used to hurt me is they didn't realize the difficulty in doing great pop songs while sounding weird and complex, and tried to look more serious for a while. Finally this time they went back to their mix of direct and winding songwriting, this time with a sinister twist. For some reason I can't explain I find some parallels with Bowie's Scary Monsters. Other reference points would be Ariel Pink (which is a major win for me) and the best and worst bits of the 80s going hand in hand, given a fantastic modern sheen.