Ray's Top 20 songs of 2018

IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN, and so I emerge from another period of radio silence to list of my top 20 favourite songs of the year. Thanks to uni i havent listened to as much new music as I would have liked to in the last third of 2018 (Although several songs from it are still represented), so dont go into this thinking its some kind of objective overview of the year in music. Also, my criteria for a song to get on here is that it has to have either been released this year on been on an album released this year (even if it came out at the end of 2017). Lets go:

Honourable Mention: 6ix9ine - BILLY




Bear with me, bear with me, I KNOW 6ix9ine is a terrible human being, but to be fair thats pretty much the appeal of his music to begin with. Listen to  'BILLY' once and it's clear it's a terrible, awful, borderline unlistenable song, but I love it to death. The sheer absurdity of a rainbow-coloured young man with '69' tattooed on his forehead screeching primary-school bully tier lyrics with a voice of burnt gravel is the epitome of so-bad-it's-good. So for what may be the most unintentionally hilarious song of the year, 6ix9ine makes the list.

20. SOPHIE - Faceshopping




On the actually good side of things is 'Faceshopping' by Sophie, a song which, to me at least, feels like its been thrown into 2018 from the future. Complete with it's rather terrifying music video, Sophie tackles consumerism... maybe? And identity... maybe. No matter what the song is about, it sounds like a firework display going off inside a metal bin, which is good enough for me.

19. St Vincent - Fast Slow Disco




One of my favourite albums of last year was 'MASSEDUCTION' by St. Vincent. One of my least favourite songs on the album was 'Slow Disco'. For some reason - possibly just for the sake of having a slightly funny in-joke song title - the originally solemn track was twisted into a synth-pop banger. And now I like it more than nearly every other song on 'MASSEDUCTION'. Huh.

18. The Voidz - QYURRYUS




'QYURRYUS' sounds unlike I've anything I've ever heard. The guitar work sounds more like sirens and malfunctioning machines than 'music', and at least of half of Julian Casablancas' lyrics are incomprehensibly murmured or shouted in a guttaral, almost Asian-inspired way, until the song evolves into a weird Ariel Pink-esque chant, with auto-tuned ad-libs. The complete antithesis to anyone complaining about the Strokes constantly looking backwards into history for inspiration.

17. They Might Be Giants - I Left My Body




On their latest LP They Might Be Giants proclaimed that they 'Like Fun'. 'I Left My Body' follows a character who drifts out of his body and cant get back in, waiting endlessly in an unbearable purgatory. I'm not sure if They Might Be Giants like fun.

16. Jeff Rosenstock -Yr Throat



I had some trouble picking the stand-out track from 'POST-', but ultimately 'Yr Throat' is the song which holds up best almost a year after the January 1st release date of the album. It probably helps that it does sound like a Christmas song in many ways, albeit a Christmas song about crushing dread. Jeff always manages to come up with vocal melodies that stick in your brain after a single listen and refuse to leave, and 'Yr Throat' stands amongst 'Festival Song' and 'Nausea' as his best work.

15. U.S. Girls - M.A.H



Thankfully obnoxious anti-trump music was on the fade this year on the whole, but we still got one political middle-finger worth keeping thanks to U.S. Girls disco-infused, Kylie Minogue-esque jam 'Mad As Hell (M.A.H.)'. Sounding like a lost gem from the seventies yet grounded firmly in 2018, this is a great example on how to make political music that is as listenable as it is thought-provoking.

14.Mitski - Two Slow Dancers

 

One of two songs on this list about slow dancing, the finale of Mitski's latest LP is the rare ballad that manages to enthrall me. The music is beautiful, as is Mitski's gentle singing, but what really pulls this song together are the lyrics, which manage to escape the tediously over-wraught, melodramatic lyrics that make similar ballads fail. The arresting first line - 'Does it smell like a school gymnasium in here' is maybe my favourite lyric of the year, instantly bringing up nostalgia, sex and longing that ride out on every metaphor and pondering thought Mitski pours into the rest of the wonderfully brief runtime.

13.Beach House - Pay No Mind



The central melody of 'Pay No Mind' sounds remarkably familiar, to the point where I had to look up the chord sequence to see if I could find some earlier version, but I couldnt. Either way, 'Pay No Mind' is the most relaxing, blissful and transcendental dream-pop song of the year. The song sounds like sitting in a tiny wooden hut by a fire, watching the stars in the night sky, or something equally romantic.

12. Daughters - The Reason They Hate Me



And on the opposite end of the musical spectrum is Daughters with 'The Reason They Hate Me'. Pretty much any song from 'You Won't Get You Want'  could have been here, but this late track on the album starts with a bang and just keeps getting more and more intense until the first chorus - perhaps climax is a more apprpropriate term - where the broken-machinery guitar-riff turns into a demonic printer edging out soul-stabbing shrieks. Exciting, explosive and terrifying this is the musical equivalent of a really great horror movie.

11. Janelle Monae - Make Me Feel



'Make Me Feel' is exactly the type of song that 80s Prince would have made in 2018, and that kind of 80s  worship carries over to the impressive music video, one of many Monae released this year. Don't get caught thinking this is mere throwback music - Greta Van Fleet this aint - Monae updates the 'Kiss' esque elements of 'make Me Feel' with 2000s girl-group harmonies and a slight off-kilter-ness that makes everything sound somehow even more colourful and rich than even Prince could manage.

10. The 1975 - Love it if We Made It



I don't particularly consider myself to be a fan of the 1975 but they manage to consistently release a few incredible singles every album cycle. Last time it was 'Love Me' and 'The Sound' , but I think they've out-done themselves this time with 'Love it if We Made It', which is surely their best song yet. Matt Healy shouts the lyrics so passionately you cant help but pay attention to what he's saying - and what he's saying is pretty amazing, the lyrics taking the form of a 'We didn't Start the Fire' or 'It's The End Of The World As We Know It' stream of consciousness of relevant news topics. This makes the song sound absolutely massive, as if the entire world as it is is encapsulated in a chaotic four minute pop song. Best of all is the ultimately hopeful sentiment that we've been lacking in so much pop music for the past few years, as Healy sings 'Modernity has failed us - but I'd love it if we made it.'

9.Kanye West - Ghost town



Whatever KanyeWest does, says or changes his name to, I don't really care as long as he keeps dropping songs as musically varied, unique and ultimately powerful as 'Ghost Town'. Every one of the many guests that pop up here in just a few short minutes add immensley to the song, from Kid Cudi's heartfelt chorus to 070 SHAKE's euphoric outro of the song whcih builds up, collapses and builds again bigger over and over until only that unforgettable melody is lodged in your head.

8.Death Grips - Black Paint



This is the song that grew on me the most over 2018. On my first few listens I could barely get a grip on any kind of melody or instrument within the super-dense mix of 'Black Paint', but upon further listens (Especially when turned up loud), this is one of the most forceful and exciting as well as by far one of the heaviest songs Death Grips have ever produced. The chorus of 'BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM' is as fun to scream along to as anything you could want from MC Ride and the bass is so thicc it practically sounds like the sonic equivalent of... well, black paint.

7.Kero Kero Bonito - Only Acting



Surely my biggest musical surprise of 2018 was 'Only Acting'. It starts off with a hollow, industrial beat and immediately it's clear something is... off. 'Bonito generation' was a joyful, cute and child-like album, and on 'Only Acting' KKB grew up big time, taking influences from contemporaries like Jeff Rosenstock and of all people, Death Grips to make a catchy but wonderfully dark meditation on social media and identity, complete with a key change that (On the album) is sharply interrupted by distorted interference.

6.MGMT - When You Die



It's almost a year to the day of me writing this that this completely whacked out psychadelic jam was sprung on to the world by musical pranksters MGMT. Complete with proabably my favourite music video of the year, the individual elements of 'When You Die' are so bizarre that when they come together its impossible to know whether you should laugh or be terrified. With only a single extended chorus, the main hook of the song funtions as 'GO FUCK YOURSELF', which pretty much exemplifies this idea. If your gonna do LSD at least do yourself the favour of listening to this while you trip out.

5.Anna Von HaussWolf - The Mysterious Vanishing Of Electra



It's rare for a song to genuinely unnerve me, but 'the Mysterious Vanishing Of Electra', with it's crushing repeating riff and razor-edge vocals manages to be unsettling and thrilling on every repeated listen. After three minutes of tense build-up the real climax of the song bursts unexpectedly just when you think the coast is clear. Inspired by recent Swans albums it may be, but Anna Von Hausswolff manages to channel Michael Gira's cackle into a more theatrical and dramatic as well as arguably more accessible piece of sound.

4.joji - Slow Dancing in the Dark



The other huge musical surprise for me this year was just how much I adored this song by Joji. Every other song the man's made has been mediocre at best, but Jesus Christ this song just hits me. The nocturnal, underwater soundscape constructed in the production manages to sound cutting edge - this is totally what pop music will sound like in several years time -  and Joji finally flexes his lyrical and vocal muscles. The climactic shout of the songs title in the chorus is maybe the most cathartic I've heard all year and the hopeless-romantic lyrics manage to sum up Joji's entire appeal in the most mature and original way yet. Hopefully Joji will sound more like this in the future and less like 'Test Drive'.

3.Haru Nemuri - sekaiwotorikaeshiteokure



Sometimes you hear a song from a scene you've never explored that makes you wonder what you've been missing out on all this time. This song (I'm not gonna try to write that name any more times than I have to) by Haru Nemei is a perfect example of this. Sounding just enough like Western rock music to draw me in, the vocoded backing vocals, explosive choruses, key changes and over-lapping melodies combine to make a song that I may not understand but I completely adore - especially when it breaks into a hugely impressive rap verse of all things in it's bridge. It sounds like the world ending, in Japanese.

2.Car Seat Headrest - Nervous Young Inhumans



Yes, there are proabably better songs on 'Twin Fantasy'. 'Beach Life-In-Death', 'Famous Prophets (Stars)' and 'Bodies' and 'Sober To Death' etc, etc. But for some reason this is the song I've been coming back to all year. Maybe it's the Killers-esque synth line, maybe it's just how the now-audible lyrics are some of the best on the album, maybe it's the way Will Toledo sings 'You'll get what you want and you will get what you deserve', or maybe its just that since its basically the shortest proper song on the album it's the one I feel like I can never hear enough times.

1.Kids See ghosts - Reborn




For the third year in a row I've had trouble naming my 'song of the year' - once again there hasn't been one specific song that felt so much better than everything else that I could immediately place it at the top. But there has to be a winner, and 'Reborn' is deserving as you can get. Innovative, unique, relaxing and ultimately transcendental, this track (along with 'Cudi Montage') feels destined to save thousands of lives purely through the catharsis and hope contained within it. That's not even to mention just how beautifully cathartic it is to see two of the music industries most publicly troubled individuals - Kanye West and Kid Cudi - come together to spread a message of hope, and one that sounds damn good at that. Keep movin' forward.

April/May/June album reviews

I havent been listening to much new music for the past three months, I've been focusing on exams and watching a ton of movies, but I've decided to get back on that GRIND, so here are some reviews of albums that I've either loved or hated for the past three months.

Lil Xan - TOTAL XANARCHY

Before I start proper I need to purge the worst musical atrocity released since the newest Fall Out Boy album from my system. TOTAL XANARCHY is one of the most innane, annoying and overly repetitive trap albums yet released, both in the shrill, below-average production of flat 808s and MIDI Hi-hats and in Lil Xan's bored croak of a voice. 'Tick Tock' is my pick as the worst track here, but it is only a few degrees of seperation from what I hesistantly call the 'best' song here, 'Saved By the Bell', with the former consisting of the lyric "Tick... Tock..." repeated dozens of times with bland, dreary production. This is surely one of the worst albums of the year, and even if you disagree, we can at least agree that the album artwork is likely the worst of the year.  2.1/10


Princess Nokia - A Girl Cried Red

Following in the steps of the recently deceased XXXTENTACION, Princess Nokia has gone full on early 2000s emo and I find it unlistenable. to clarify, I think the production on this EP is alright, and there are even some OK songs on here, like 'For the Night'. Unfortunately, Nokia adopts a nasal, shrill singing style that is ear-piercing and droning, as ell as sounding like a cynical parody of emo vocals. Hopefully this project is just a one-off detour, and I certainly don't begrudge this as much as I did XXX's attempts at emo, but at the same time this is decisively unenjoyable. 3.5/10



Father John Misty - God's favourite Customer

'Pure Comedy' was one of my favourite albums of last year, so I was excited to hear what FJM would come out with on 'God's favourite Customer'. While purposely less ambitious and experimental than it's predecessor - it's described as a 'pallete cleanser' in it's online description - this album benefits from being more melodic and less existential tha 'Pure Comedy', making it a more comfortable but less vital listen. 'Date Night' and 'Disappointing Diamonds' are more upbeat and catchy than anything on 'Pure Comedy', and 'Please Don't Die' is more heartfelt. The down side is some of the ballads on this don't stand up as well as the ones on 'Pure Comedy', such as the title track which has little to distinguish it from the more melodic or sensitive ballads that surround it. Even then, this is a very good album that will surely be loved by the vocal sector of FJM fans who hated 'Pure Comedy'. 8.0/10


Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer

This is a damn good pop album that is sure to end up on my end-of-year album list, albeit one which is held back by a few mediocre cuts. the bangers on here are soem of the best songs of the year, and there are a lot of them, especially on the first half of the album - 'Take a byte', 'Screwed', 'I Like That', 'Pink', 'Americans', 'Django Jane', 'Crazy Classic Life' and my personal favourite for now, 'Make Me Feel' - songs which take the best parts of pop music from the 80s and early 2000s and update them with modern-day production quirks and occassionally cringe-worthy but largely interesting topical lyrics based largely around sex and identity. The lull in the tracklist comes courtesy of the 10 minutes of the slow, washed out 'Don't Judge Me' and 'So Afraid', which are both perfectly fine but kill the joyful momentum of the previous poppier tracks. Either way, this is my favourite pop album of the year so far apart from MGMT's 'Little Dark Age'. 8.6/10


Parquet Courts - Wide Awake

Listening to punk albums in 2018 can be a painful expericence, with constant, uncreative references to Trump and ideas that are presented as revolutionary when they're mainstream, largely held beliefs like woman's rights and anti-racism. Luckily Parquet Courts cover a wider variety of topics and with a sense of humour and playful instrumentation. 'Wide Awake', 'Total Football', 'In and Out of Patience' and 'Violence' are all catchy, funky punk songs that sound like they were created at the height of punk, albeit with lyrical refernce to online videos. There's variety here as well, with the comparitively somber 'Mardi Gras Beads' sweeping through with a dreamy essence far apart from the distorted guitar jabs found on the rest of the album. Overall it's an absolute banger and is sure to be among the best punk albums of the year. 8.5/10

Ghost - Prequelle

I rarely review metal because of my lack of experience with the genre, but 'Prequelle' shares a lot in common with other metal-lite acts like Andrew W.K. where I can enjoy the music without feeling like I'm missing the point of it. It good. 7.3/10

 





Arctic Monkeys - Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino

At one point in time I called 'AM' one of my favourite albums - alas, I now think it's actually pretty awful in it's own plodding, arrogant, way. Despite my hang-ups, 'AM' seems to have been adopted as the premiere rock album of my generation and as such I was suprisingly excited for a new Arctic Monkeys album if nly so I don't have to hear the intro to 'Do I Wanna Know' in commn rooms for the next six months. Unfortunately for me, 'Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino' is far too wierd to gain the lnglasting impact of 'AM', but in a strange twist of fate I actually think that this could be their best album since 'Humbug'. It's a unique experiment, with lounge-music passages covered with metaphor-riddled poetry, often without a clear chorus and largely abandoning the dreary guitars of their past albums. As such, the best and worst parts of this album don't sound too diffrent from each other,the main differences being that the worst parts have overly ridiculous and self-indulgent lyrics like "I wanted to be one of the strokes", while the best songs - 'Four Out of Five' are more melodic and cohesive. With all that said, I'm interested to see how this holds up in years to come. 6.3/10

Courtney Barnett - Tell Me How You Really Feel

I really enjoyed some of the tracks off of Barnett's debut album 'Sometimes I sit and think, sometimes I just sit' but at the same time I thought that on the whole the album was overrated and 'Tell Me How You Really Feel' seems to have been with the level of fair praise that I belived Barnett's previous album should have recieved. This album is certainly a worthy follow-up to it's predecessor, the lows on the previous album being higher on this album, but the highs also being lower. Still, it's a charmingly dopey garage rock album that may not be the most original thing ever but is genreally enjoyable. 6.9/10


Pusha T - Daytona

The first Kanye-produced album of the year, 'Daytona' set a high watermark that foreshadowed what would come next. However, unlike on the next two projects, the shining star here was not Kanye but his progidy Pusha-T, who has become the kind of rapper beloved to hip-hop heads with his clear, punchy delivery of lyrics filled with wordplay and double entendres. All the tracks here are quality, with 'If You Know You Know' being my personal favourite. When it was released it was my favourite hip-hop release of the year - although that would quickly fall to the mentor just a week later. 7.7/10

Kanye West - ye

In 2016 Kanye West innovated the concept of what an album could actually be with 'The Life of Pablo', which he constantly updated throughout the year, remixing songs, adding tracks and re-shuffling the album order. Now with his quadruple release of albums he's produced ('Daytona', 'Ye', 'Kids See Ghosts' and that new Nas album I haven't listened to yet) he's once again getting the music world to consider the nature of the album. There has been debate over whether these 20-minute projects can be considered albums or merely EPs, with my opinion being that if the artist wants the audience to view the work as a cohesive album, as opposed to an EP of more disparate songs, then length doesn't particularly matter. This cohesion is certainly the case with 'ye', where all of the songs stay focused around similar themes of Kanye's struggles with fame and the bi-polar referenced on the cover. The two best songs on the album, 'Yikes' and 'Ghost Town' even both share spooky titles, the latter ending with one of the catchiest hooks of the year. West's rapping is up to the standard we've come to expect from his legendary discography, and despite what pitchfork may say I believe this stands up as another great album from Yeezus himself. 8.1/10

ALBUM OF THE MONTH(S) - Kids See Ghosts - Kids See Ghosts

Oof they don't make 'em like this anymore. 'Kids See Ghosts' is the kind of ground-breaking, borderless experimental album that feels like it's juggling about 10 genres at once yet manages to blend them into spooky, visceral and ultimately transcendental music. From the terrififying backing vocals of opener 'Feel the Love' to the power of 'Reborn' and the beautiful finale 'Cudi montage', this is a project sure to go down in musical history. It's so purely good and unique that I can see it having a long life online and if any album deserves to it's this one. 9.5/10