My Favorite Music of 2018
Hey y’all! To celebrate (nothing in particular because I’m running on an impossibly delayed schedule), I’ve come bearing the greatest gift possible: my top music of 2018 list.
I’ve embedded Spotify links to each album in each writeup, but I’ve also got a playlist of my favorite tracks you can check out by clicking here.
Galapagos — WEDNESDAY CAMPANELLA
WEDNESDAY CAMPANELLA (backed by Dir.F and Kenmochi Hidefumi while charismatic frontwoman KOM_I serves as vocalist and the public face) has consistently been releasing flawless technopop tracks for over 5 years now. As my most frequented musical find of 2018, I bumped their incredible dance beats and lush instrumentation (especially their more recent albums SUPERMAN and Zipangu) through the first half of the year in anticipation of Galapagos’ release in late June.
Galapagos finds the trio targeting an even broader spread of genres than usual, this time opting to focus in on especially relaxed and ethereal synth instrumentation, with KOM_I’s voice flexing to fit each role. For the most obvious comparison, check the more on-brand pop production of Melos vs. the quiet, soaring synths of The Sand Castle.
I was going to end this by saying I’m very excited for whatever comes next, but since I’ve been so slow to toss this list together I have the benefit of knowing what did come next. Their most recent release since Galapagos, YAKUSHIMA TREASURE, is an experimental and atmospheric EP that’s a complete departure from their style up to this point. If you’re down for a band that is willing to be experimental and unpredictable, Galapagos is probably the best entry point into WEDNESDAY CAMPANELLA’s rapidly-expanding discography.
Essential: The Bamboo Princess, Melos, The Sand Castle
Cité Champagne — Moodoïd
Somewhere at the intersection of Tom Tom Club, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and Oscar & the Wolf are the unrelenting synths, breathy verses, and soaring choruses of Cité Champagne. I got into Moodoïd’s new album following their unbelievably stellar single, Langage, which, appropriately, both opens and closes the album on Spotify, so that’s probably the best starting point. You can even check out the music video to test your will against frontman Pablo Padovani’s weird-as-hell persona (and see KOM_I from WEDNESDAY CAMPANELLA in action).
Essential: Star, Langage (feat. WEDNESDAY CAMPANELLA), Kasbah
7 — Beach House
I got very into Beach House at the end of high school, letting their first three albums score all the inner turmoil that comes with being a closeted teen in the suburbs and the nightmare cocktail of emotions that comes alongside all of that. My running theory is that there’s some unique hormonal blend that tends to make people think that whatever they listened to in their late teens is the best music they’re ever going to hear… but 7 is Beach House’s best album. In a discography awash with moody, hazy, functionally identical tracks, 7 resonated with me deeper than any of their past albums, surpassing even the bias of my teenage hormones.
Essential: Drunk in LA, Lemon Glow, Black Car
Mitski — Be the Cowboy
There’s absolutely nothing I could say about Be The Cowboy that hasn’t already been said by every single person to even begin writing a top music of 2018 writeup, especially with this list sliding in a solid 6 months late. Go pull up Come into the Water and get back to me in 92 seconds.
Essential: Geyser, Why Didn’t You Stop Me?, Come into the War
I Don’t Want: the Gold Fire Sessions — Santigold
I Don’t Want is the PERFECT summer album. Almost all of it was recorded over two weeks, and Santigold considered it a ‘fun and fast’ release. Santigold injected so much life into this album despite basically slapping it together for in a couple of days for fun, and that really says it all.
Essential: Why Me, Don’t Blame Me, I Don’t Want
Asobi — Aseul
Asobi was probably my most anticipated release all year, almost entirely as a result of Aseul pulling off the rare feat of my favorite tracks from the album being its lead singles.
February’s career-high single Always with You is dreampop at its catchiest and most effervescent, with a neon-tinged, sleekly-produced video steeped in Aseul’s colorful Information Age aesthetic. The second single, Sandcastles, has a much more informal and laid-back video, reminiscent of distant vacation memories being relived on VHS. Sandcastles is punctuated by much poppier verses than almost any Aseul track, but is really driven home with an dreamily subdued chorus that calls forth some indescribable nostalgia that propels the track to my all-time best list. The rest of Asobi is solid, but those two tracks do the heavy lifting to slot the EP as an unmissable release.
Essential: Always with You, Sandcastles, Saram
Joyride — Tinashe
Alright, so Joyride finally came out last year (after how many dozens of decades in the studio) and I genuinely don’t remember anyone talking about it in any capacity. Okay, okay, it doesn’t reach the same level of consistent R&B perfection that Nightride, arguably my 2016 AOTY, delivered, but it’s fun and has a few moments that reach the heights of Nightride’s Party Favors and Spacetime. Salt and No Contest are great without qualification while Faded Love is specifically excellent by radio-ready single standards. All that aside, though, probably the most impressive achievement is how solid most of the album is in spite of its singularly terrible promotional singles (links here for good measure).
Essential: Salt, No Contest, Ain’t Good For Ya (Interlude)
Hatsukoi — Utada
Utada’s latest took a while to grow on me because it’s utterly incohesive compared to 2016’s Fantôme, but so many great tracks can be found in its complete mashup of styles and lyrical content. The only unforgiveable offense was whoever made the decision to axe Chikai in favor of (utter trainwreck of a Skrillex vehicle) Face My Fears for the Kingdom Hearts 3 theme, a very specific slight that likely only registers on the radar of my video game-rotted brain.
Essential: Chikai, Too Proud (feat. Jevon), Anata
Saturn — Nao
Though I’ve been immediately invested in Nao since she released Fool to Love, her debut album never clicked with me as much as the singles that led up to its release.
Saturn, on the other hand, is a rare example of an album that delivers beyond the promise of its singles (in this case, perfectly polished R&B tracks Another Lifetime and Make It Out Alive). I’d mark the first 10 songs on the album down as near-perfect pop/r&b hybrid tracks, and you can’t buy that kind of consistency these days.
Essential: Gabriel, Drive and Disconnect, Orbit
Trust Me Baby/In Dreams — Empress Of
History books will show that Empress Of came through on April 11th, 2018 with what’s currently my favorite single/b-side release ever, two tracks that colored my spring and have stayed closely with me since. That’s not to say that these are the most complicated or spectacularly constructed songs ever made, but they tap into an admittedly simple emotional vein that resonates with me deeply. Trust Me Baby especially is, for better or worse, endlessly listenable, both as a song and mantra.
Essential: Trust Me Baby, In Dreams (big surprises there!)
Hive Mind — The Internet
I picked up The Internet’s last album, 2015’s Ego Death, a few years later than everyone else, but have essentially kept it on repeat since 2017. Though I still haven’t listened to their older albums and can’t even begin to claim expertise on their work up through now, my echo chamber of Just Sayin/I Tried did anything but temper my expectations and anticipation for Hive Mind.
Luckily, Hive Mind succeeds spectacularly, relying a bit less on catchy hooks and more on basslines and careful funk instrumentation, leaning heavily into R&B and soul song tempos and archetypes. Syd’s voice is one of my all-time favorites in the world of modern R&B, the perfect blend of smooth and emotive (just take her vocal work transforming Stay the Night’s simple chorus into an album standout). Though the end result is a bit harder to penetrate than Ego Death, Hive Mind dives a little deeper into the group’s funk and soul influences to greater successes than their last release.
Essential: Stay the Night, Next Time / Humble Pie, Look What U Started
Dirty Computer — Janelle Monáe
It’s hard to pin down exactly how I feel about Dirty Computer, a compilation of some of Janelle Monáe’s best and strangest all in one messy, exciting package. Of course, a lot of that probably comes from my personal bias, as her artistry is undeniably at its strongest since her pivot away from the Archandroid storyline and her R&B throughline (though she’s always been willing to diverge into other musical styles with every release). Dirty Computer contains stellar R&B tracks, pop that follows both 2010s and 80s conventions, funk ballads, and plenty more. The accompanying ‘movie’ release also sees Janelle at the peak of her powers, jumping on the recent bandwagon of delivering an album’s worth of gorgeous and interesting music videos in an utterly incohesive package.
Essential: Don’t Judge Me, Screwed (feat. Zoë Kravitz), I Like That
Thanks for playing, y’all! Again, here’s a playlist with my favorite few tracks from all of these albums.
See you HOPEFULLY only in 6 months! ❤
