My Top Ten Albums of 2018

So, without further fannying about here are my top 10 (plus 3) favourite albums of 2018...and, for the avoidance of doubt (!), they are in no particular order...

Suede 'The Blue Hour' - An album that demands to be listened to in one sitting - a rarity these days - and one that deserves that attention.  It has been the soundtrack to my darkest days. Love.

Bill Ryder-Jones 'Yawn' - A latecomer to the list, but fuck me, what an album.  At times, listening to the words and how he sings them, I fear for him. It has an emotional intensity in the rawness of some of the lyrics that, well, I'm at a loss.  I don't believe I've got to the bottom of this album yet. May even supplant the Suede album. The track below is probably not the one I'd have chosen from the album, but it is amongst my favourites, so here is 'Don't be Scared, I Love You'...

Hollie Cook 'Vessel of Love' - This album came out at the start of the year, so was almost forgotten for that reason, but this has a place in my heart for reasons I cannot explain here. It also features Youth (Killing Joke, The Orb) and Jah Wobble as collaborators and players and, most important, great songs.  Difficult to choose a favourite track plus I want to choose a track that I didn't add to my favourite songs of 2018, so most poignantly, it must be 'Far From Me'...

Kikagaku Moyo 'Masana Temples' - I'd been impressed by these guys after hearing their earlier album 'Stone Temples', but wow!, this one caught me by surprise. Their sound keeps evolving and going in new directions; they are truly a 'progressive' rock band in the original sense (I could write a huge digression on the use of the word 'progressive' - its meaning and its use both negatively and positively to apply to different music - but I'll save that for another day) of the word. Four tracks from 'Masana Temples' appear on my best songs list but finding another good track is easy, it is such a good album, so here is 'Majupose'...

Low 'Double Negative' - It might appear that my albums of the year are biased towards melancholia and negativity and I can't deny that the first songs I heard from this album ('Dancing and Blood' and 'Fly' (both on my top songs of 2018 list)) are certainly, well lets just say, downbeat. 'Double Negative' (bit of a clue in the title) is one of those albums that has an incredibly coherent and singular vision and it's something that appeals to me. The album is a marked change in sound for Low, the songs underpinned by electronic sounds - rhythmic noise almost - but topped with fragile singing and guitar melodies.  Low have always been quiet and slow but this is way different. 

Sometimes an album holds a mirror up to your life and reflects back how you feel and your experience of life day to day, and this is one of those. Some of the songs are deeply upsetting but they are reality and that is an inescapable truth. 'Always Trying To Work It Out' is one of those:

Janelle Monae 'Dirty Computer' - A return to form, at least to these ears, I'd go as far as to say this is her best album to date.  From the album opener, the all too brief title track (featuring Brian Wilson on backing vocals), it's clear this is an album with a vision.  The theme is a mix of gender politics and sci-fi (there is a film to accompany the album) a favourite terrain of hers for exploring themes closer to home.  Lots of great songs and her usual fine lyrics; choosing a song I've not posted previously is tricky but I think I'll go with 'Screwed', think that it hits the spot...

Anna Calvi 'Hunter' - On some of these songs Anna Calvi is pure sex. Her singing, her guitar playing her songwriting it all just oozes...and another album exploring gender roles and relationships. Lots of favourite songs and here's one of them, 'Indies or Paradise'...

Amgala Temple 'Invisible Airships' - More bloody jazz rock! Out Bloody Rageous 😉 And it's them Norwegians again! Yes, Scandinavia still seems to be the source of much great music as we come to the end of the 2010s. Often more rocky than jazzy, it's a great cocktail leading to some incredibly invigorating moments. Give 'The Eccentric' a try...

  

Idris Ackamoor and the Pyramids 'An Angel Fell' - Jazz again! What's happening here? This one came out of left field late in the year and turns out to be by a band that's been going since the 1970s and enjoying a creative renaissance. I can't match what Idris has to say about the album, so I won't try - these are his words: “The songs explore global themes that are important to me and to us all: the rise of catastrophic climate change and our lack of concern for our planet, loss of innocence and separation... but positive themes too, the healing power of music, collective action and the simple beauty of nature.” Good enough for me.  Here's the title track...

BC Camplight 'Deportation Blues' - Never heard of BC Camplight until I heard 'I'm Desperate' on Mark Riley's BBC 6 Music radio show and was hooked by the squeaky synth line in that song. A set of songs which meld a mix of styles to produce some wonderfully quirky tunes and lyrics.  Thoroughly recommended. Most appropriately here is 'I'm In a Weird Place Now'...

Kali Uchis 'Isolation' - Unashamedly poppy R'n'B (or should that be Urban?) album of great songs from the Colombian-American singer. Some interesting guests and collaborations from in and out of the world of R'n'B including the wonderful Bootsy Collins and Tame Impala (Kevin Parker). Confusing video for the song 'Tyrant', which, maybe, is the way it should be...

Kathryn Joseph 'From When I Wake The Want Is' - Another of those late discoveries, this time via the best albums list of Catherine Anne Davies (aka The Anchoress) who strongly recommended this album and Kathryn's debut album to me. As I'd never heard of Kathryn I gave it a listen and it turned out to be another of those singular albums that have a consistency of themes, of music and voice that create their own world. From the album comes ' Mouths Full of Blood'...

Marianne Faithfull 'Negative Capability' - The final album in the 'top 10' is Marianne Faithfull's latest. A striking late period album of strength and beauty married with a vulnerability which contrasts with her voice.  Nick Cave guests (just about) on vocals on one of the songs but I've chosen 'Loneliest Person', well, just because I have...

And that, my friends, is the end of my top 10 (plus 3) albums of 2018, a great year for music even if it wasn't a great year in any other way.  

The next post will, no doubt, be a return to the usual miserabilist bullshit, so until the next time, adieu...