A spotify playlist with sample tracks has been linked at the bottom of this post, in case you wanted to check any of these titles out. I certainly encourage you to do just that!
My 18 Favorite albums of 2018:
18 - Spesh - Famous World
17 - Dizzy - Baby Teeth
16 - St. Vincent - MassEducation
15 - Jon Hopkins - Singularity
14 - Rival Consoles - Persona
13 - Ryley Walker - The Lillywhite Sessions
12 - Henry Derek Elis - The Devil Is My Friend
11 - Neko Case - Hell-On
10 - Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Hope Downs
9 - Shame - Songs of Praise
8 - Ezra Furman - Transangelic Exodus
7 - Death Cab For Cutie - Thank You for Today
6 - Wye Oak - The Louder I Call, the Faster It Runs
5 - GoGo Penguin - A Humdrum Star
4 - Belly - DOVE
3 - Frank Turner - Be More Kind
2 - Angelique Kidjo - Remain In Light
1 - LOCKS - Skeletal Blues
My favorite album of 2018: Gloriously acoustic murder ballads and death shanties from an English/Irish London-based four piece band likely as influenced by Tom Waits as Nick Cave. They had me under their spell with my first listen to the song, “Skin,” but every song on this album is a gothic-blues gem.
Here's a Spotify playlist with some sample tracks from each of these albums. Let me know if you hear anything you like!
Speaking of Spotify, most of my musical exploration is being done that way these days. For decades, the only way I could experiment with music is to buy it in a physical format - LP or CD. For every real gem that I discovered that way, there were at least two or three other titles that just didn't stick to my ribs in the long run. This, in turn, led to piles of vinyl records and CDs all over the house, knowing fully well that much of what was in those piles would never spend much more time being played. My appetite for new music was creating a lot of media clutter.
With the advent of streaming services like Spotify, I've been able to cut way back on purchases of physical media. While some would see this as a bad thing, it is directly in line with my desire to simplify my life and cut down on all the "stuff" that I own. I will still buy physical copies of albums but, much like my much younger days, I reserve that honor for the few that end up being special to me. In the meantime, many of those LPs and CDs that didn't stick with me are either heading for resale at record stores or being listed on Discogs.
1 - LOCKS - Skeletal Blues
My favorite album of 2018: Gloriously acoustic murder ballads and death shanties from an English/Irish London-based four piece band likely as influenced by Tom Waits as Nick Cave. They had me under their spell with my first listen to the song, “Skin,” but every song on this album is a gothic-blues gem.
Here's a Spotify playlist with some sample tracks from each of these albums. Let me know if you hear anything you like!
Speaking of Spotify, most of my musical exploration is being done that way these days. For decades, the only way I could experiment with music is to buy it in a physical format - LP or CD. For every real gem that I discovered that way, there were at least two or three other titles that just didn't stick to my ribs in the long run. This, in turn, led to piles of vinyl records and CDs all over the house, knowing fully well that much of what was in those piles would never spend much more time being played. My appetite for new music was creating a lot of media clutter.
With the advent of streaming services like Spotify, I've been able to cut way back on purchases of physical media. While some would see this as a bad thing, it is directly in line with my desire to simplify my life and cut down on all the "stuff" that I own. I will still buy physical copies of albums but, much like my much younger days, I reserve that honor for the few that end up being special to me. In the meantime, many of those LPs and CDs that didn't stick with me are either heading for resale at record stores or being listed on Discogs.
No comments:
Post a Comment