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.

Ranking 'OK COMPUTER's tracklist from best to worst

11 months ago I made a blog post where I ranked the tracklist of Radiohead's 1995 classic 'The Bends'.

Frankly it wasn't great, I hadn't really listened to the second half of the album enough to fully justify placing a song like 'Sulk' higher than 'Blackstar', and so on. However, 1997's 'OK Computer' is a different story, it's my second favourite album of all-time and I've listened to it dozens of times. Here, I'm going to rank the songs from my least favourite to my favourite, although keep in mind that there arent really any weak tracks here.

12. Fitter Happier

Perhaps the only easy choice I had to make on this list, 'Fitter Happier' is surely doomed to come in last place on almost every 'OK Computer' ranking simply because it's a two-minute robot-voice interlude rather than a legitimate song. With that said, it works perfectly as an atmospheric interlude, especially when compared with some of the more boring or pointless interludes on 'Kid A' ('Treefingers') and 'Amnesiac' ('Hunting Bears'), as while those serve as ambient mood setters, 'fitter happier' actively chills the listener with it's Orwellian lyrics and gloomy soundscape that arguably predicts the more experimental landscapes created on the band's next album.

11. The Tourist

'The Tourist' is the only song on 'OK Computer' that I hesitate to call great, and while I usually get won over by the end, it's not a doubt I experience with any of the other tracks. While some of my favourite radiohead songs are some of their slowest ('Nude', 'How To Disappear Completely', 'Pyramid Song'), 'The Tourist' often feels like it's playing in slow-motion, giving it the effect of a lullaby. As such it works well as album closer, aided by the lyrics circling back to join up with 'Airbag', but it's inflated runtime and unchanging chord chord sequence are the only parts of the whole album that grate on me.

10. Climbing Up the Walls

This is Radiohead at their creepiest, with a soundscape of of rattling chains, scrathy violins, bird screeches and a rasping bassline all topped with Thom Yorke's murky and unsettling delivery of lyrics like 'Open Up Your Skull'. After the second chorus the creepiness explodes into a brilliantly incomprehensible mess of instrumentation, before ending with a demonic scream. It's puzzling that this sits so well with the tonally opposite 'No Surprises' in the tracklist, but somehow it works. As for why 'Climbing Up the Walls' isn't higher up, it's simply because although I admire Radiohead's attempt at making something creepy, it appeals to me less than most of the other songs which inspire less surface-level emotion.

9. Electioneering

I would hesitate to call any song on one of the most-critically acclaimed albums of all time underrated, but if i had to it would be 'Electioneering'. People seem to frequently name this song as the worst on 'OK Computer', because of it's more energetic and upbeat tone, but as someone who initially couldn't stand most of 'OK Computer', this is the song that single-handedly got me through those hectic first few listens. Aside form being one of Radiohead's better attempts at a grungy sound - I like this more than a fair bit of 'The Bends' - this song injects a much needed boost of momentum into the album right when it's in danger of becoming stale. It doesn't fit in perfectly, and it's not as ambitious as many of the other tracks, but IT HAS A COWBELL.

8. Lucky

I always feel like I should like this a bit more than I do. Several people and publications I know have listed this as one of the very best Radiohead songs. It's certainly an incredible achievement, creating one of the bleakest atmospheres on the record during the verses with the heavy bass and sparse guitar line, before lifting off into a chorus with one of the more memorable Radiohead riffs. My problem is with the transition to the chorus not sounding quite as powerful as I think it could and not really liking the 'We are standing on the edge' post-chorus section. That said, this is the first of the 8 standout tracks of the album in this ranking, so from here on out I believe every song is a 9-10/10.

7.  Subterranean Homesick Alien

'Subterranean Homesick Alien' sounds both blissful and bleak at the same time, and is highly accessible compared to the songs surrounding it, with some of the cleanest production and most straightforwardly narrative lyrics on the album. Johnny Greenwood's guitar sounds like a waterfall for most of the runtime, and despite the lyrics about 'Living in a Town, where you can't smell a thing', the impression I get from the song is one of lying in a field at sunset, watching cows drifting up into distant UFOs.

6. Exit Music (For a Film)

'Exit Music' was the last song on the album that I fell in love with, I found the intro too sparse and unsettling to really engage with the rest of the song at first. Over time I've come to appreaciate this intro, a sharp change from the dense soundscapes offered up by the first three tracks, and focusing more on the intro led me to appreciate how great the build-up of this song is. First it's just Thom and his guitar, then a spooky robotic choir comes in, a sound I still haven't heard since, before we get one of the all-time great bass-drops in rock, as the song climaxes in a terrifying frenzy of everything getting louder with Thom Yorke shouting 'NOW WE ARE ONE' over it all.

5. Airbag

Even though it can be enjoyed easily as a standalone track, it's impossible to imagine any other song opening 'OK Computer' other than 'Airbag', with that immediately stark riff instantly putting the listener into the melancholy mood that much of the album carries. The layers of instrumentation are so dense here that it's easy to get lost within the choirs, programmed and acoustic percussion, razor-edge guitars and stuttering bass. The song never feels almost five minutes long, even despite a breakdown that uses record scratching, which is an impressive achievement.

4. Karma Police

 

I love 'Karma Police'. I've learnt it on guitar (Even though it uses less of the instrument than any other song on the album), I've memorised the lyrics, I've watched the video more than any other Radiohead video. While much of 'OK Computer' is sincere, 'Karma Police' has a layer of irony smeared over it, which makes it the funniest song on the album, especially when combined with the 'You've Got A Friend In Me' piano roll of the chorus. However, this fun transforms into something transcendental during the outro, where the murderous daydreams of the narrator are replaced with reality, helped enormously by the three note motif that starts off on a cello and moves up in pitch, being sang by a choir of Thom Yorkes all singing 'Ah-ah-ahh', until they are drowned out by white noise, in one of Radiohead's best outros.

3. No Surprises


Under the childlike, high pitched guitar melodies and relaxed vocal delivery of 'No Suprises' lies a restless, suffocating anxiety that never really quite comes out. The music video to the song, where a tank of water gradually fills up around Thom Yorke's head conveys this brilliantly, as well as nailing the hynotic nature of the repetitve riffs and vocal melody. Unlike other songs on 'OK Computer', 'No Surprises' doesn't build up to an explosive climax, instead the most passionately sung line being 'Such a pretty house, such a pretty garden', harking back to the depressing suburban materialism of 'Fake Plastic Trees'. For me, this is one of the most deeply affecting Radiohead songs, perfectly summing up feelings of mind-numbing boredom and uselessness with the opening line, 'A heart that's full up like a landfull'.

2. Paranoid Android



 Two years ago this would have easily been my number one, and even now it's still a close-call between this and my actual number-one pick. This was the second Radiohead song I ever heard (After 'Street Spirit (Fade Out)'), and as such I have a long personal histroy with the song, from initially disliking all but the central 'bit with the riff' to also enjoying the intro, to enjoying the whole song, to having my mind blown by the details. It seems obvious now, but I remember how amazed I was when on my umpteenth listen I realised that a robotic voice was faintly saying 'I MIGHT BE PARANOID BUT IM NOT AN ANDROID' during the first part of the song, or when I realised that part of what made the outro so disturbing to me were the disorted screams that fit so well into the cacophony of Johnny Greenwood's insane soloing, Colin's propulsive bass and Phil Selway's passionate drumrolls, with Ed O'Brien presumably also doing something great. It's the 'Boheiam Rhapsody' of the 1990s, a song I have sub-consciously ripped off myself and an all-round classic.

1. Let Down

'Let Down' is both an inappropriate and appropriate title for not only my favourite song from 'OK Computer' but my favourite Radiohead song, and as such one of my all-time favourite songs. In one sense, this song is the furthest thing you could get from a let-down, it's a perfect song with dense yet never clumsy production, some of the finest lyrics Yorke's ever written and is perfectly structured. In the other sense, 'Let Down' so perfectly sums up the feeling of being let down that you feel as if no other song ever needs to be written on the topic. Something about the melodies in the song manage to simaltaneously crush you, like the 'bug in the ground' described in the lyrics, yet at the same time the chorus manages to be just upbeat enough to add a glimmer of hope to the song. The reason the song resonates so deeply with me is that it one perhaps the song I depended most upon during my time travelling to and from a school I dreaded along dreary motorways and broken streets on a grimy bus, usually under pale white skies - in short a situation that looked and felt a lot like the album cover of 'OK Computer', and one which is perfectly described by 'Let Down'. 'One day I am gonna grow wings' would be an overly cheesy line in most songs, but I needed it back then, and judging by the universal love for 'OK Computer', thousands, maybe even millions have needed it too.

August 2018 album reviews

Most of these arent even from August tbh but I'm still catching up on music from the past few months.

Sophie - OIL OF EVERY PEARLS UN-INSIDES



Well this is a weird one. Surely one of the strangest and most cutting-edge albums of 2018, the new Sophie album, is an exercise in pushing the boundaries of pop music into a disturbing, abrasive and less accessable direction, which it does brilliantly complete with an impenetrable album title. 'Ponyboy', 'Faceshopping' and the extended closing track are filled with Death Grips styled fuzzy morphed samples sharply cut with bullet-fire percussion. While these are largely the most memorable tracks here, the less abrasive material is also very good, like building opener 'It's Okay to Cry' and the early 2010s EDM stomp of 'Immaterial'. A great companion piece to 'Year Of the Snitch' and a great album in it's own right. 8.3/10

Ariana Grande - sweetness



I quite enjoyed 'No Tears Left To Cry', the lead single from super-star Ariana Grande's fourth album in five year, so I decided to try out the full length 'sweetness', but unfortunately Grande hasn't followed in the footsteps of Rihanna and Beyonce and has instead released an archetypal pop album - a few stand-out singles surrounded by blandness. 5.0/10

Iglooghost - Steel Mogu / Clear Tamei EPs



Electronic music perhaps more than any other genre is something I should listen to more, but one of the producers who I keep on my E-radar is 'Iglooghost', who creates intricately orchestrated, ADHD soundscapes that are always fun to listen to. While I did find the sheer speed and energy of his music a little exhausting on last year's full length 'Neo Wax Bloom' (Which I still liked a fair bit), I think that these EPs showcase both a progression and a more manageable way to listen to his music. The EPs have the same general sound of sped up nintendo music colliding with trap and club influences, but with several differences between the two. 'Clear Tamei' is more upbeat, with standout closing track 'Shrine Hacker' being one of his best creations so far, while 'Steel Mogu' uses slightly harsher and darker sounds, creating a nightscape of siren-like synths and erratic beats. 7.5/10 (combined score)

Death Grips - Year Of The Snitch



This was one of my most anticipated albums of the year, and yet I had no idea what to expect going into it - lead single 'Streaky' had been merely OK and I didn't really get 'Black paint' or 'Dilemma' at first. However, I had loved 'Hahaha', 'Shitshow' and 'Flies' right out of the gate. I needn't have worried. 'Death Grips Is Online' is up there with 'Get Got' and 'You might think he loves you for his money...' as one of the group's best opening tracks and this momentum carries throughout the whole tracklist, helped by the fact that many of the tracks flow seamlessly together. The fantastically ugly album cover is a clue to the sound of the album which has all of the usual appeals of the Death Grips - MC Ride's howled delivery of disturbing lyrics, distorted and experimental beats and a frantic pace. The main differences this time around come in the form of cleaner production and a lower-key feel on tracks like 'Linda's In Custody' and 'Streaky' and in various weird instrumental diversions. This includes record scratching over nearly every song and a spooky piano and horn section on 'The Fear', which sounds like a horror-themed cartoon theme as done by Death Grips. It sounds like nothing else (except other Death Grips albums), and though it may not be the best place to enter their discography (See 'The Money Store' or 'Bottomless Pit') it is another Death Grips classic. 8.8/10

Snail Mail - Lush



Ehhhhh. 'Lush' is the kind of dream pop/ indie rock album that I feel like I've already heard a dozen times. That's not even to say it's a bad album - it's perfectly serviceable and it seems to have it's fair share of fans. As for my personal gripes, I'm generally not a big fan of dreamy music, with only a few of the most unique dreamy albums - 'Loveless' for example - and 'Lush' has my usual problems of monotone vocals, bland lyrics and guitar effects that take away any kind of bite from the instrument. 'Lush' is a decent dream pop album, but not much more. 5.7/10

Mitski - Be The Cowboy



I didn't care much for Mitski's last project, 'Puberty 2', I found it frankly a bit boring. Luckily I much preferred 'Be The Cowboy' - although it's a frustrating listen. There is near 50/50 split between songs I like and songs I don't care much for, and while I really like the beauty and emotional power of opener 'Geyser' and closer 'Two Slow Dancers', along with the more upbeat 'Washing Machine Heart' and 'Me and My Husband', I can't get myself excited for the dreary 'Come into the Water' or 'A Horse Named Cold Air', which sound vaguely like Angel Olsen covering Amnesiac-era Radiohead. Lots of cuts fall between these, but overall I still think this is one of the better indie albums of the year, with a few tracks being some of my favourites of the year. 7.2/10

Denzel Curry - TA13OO



I don't know much about Denzel Curry's rap career up to this point besides the 'ultimate' memes and his appearance on the 2016 XXl Freshamn cover, including his group freestyle which included other current day superstars Lil Yachty, Lil Uzi Vert, 21 Savage and Kodak Black. With my lack of experience 'TA13OO' suprised me - it's one of my favourite hip-hop albums of the year (And there hasn't been as many as i would have hoped so far in 2018). The album may be pure eye cancer to look at on spotify thanks to the song names being written both in regular english and some kind of ALL CAPS Denzel Curry syntax using numbers instead of letters whenever possible, and the album is needlessly split into three 'discs' (although the overall runtime is a pleasingly restrained 43 minutes), but the actual songs themselves are largely great. The opening trio of tracks are soulful and heartfelt, with some thought-provoking lyrics - a vibe that reminded me of Andre 3000 at several points. these three tracks are likely my favourites, but the rest of the tracklist, mainly formed of bangers, is still great. 'CLOUT COBAIN' is the biggest standout with it's sticky hook and suicidal lyrics. 7.8/10

Beach House - 7




As exemplified in my Snail Mail review I'm not the biggest fan of dreamy rock music, but there's usually one or two albums every year that do it so well I can't ignore them, and '7' is one of those. It's darker, more mysterious and less predictable than most dream-pop albums I've heard, the hypnotic strums and beats covered with submerged piano on opener 'Dark Spring' and with a crackling synth bass on 'Pay No Mind', a song which I really like but also feel is derivative of something I can't put my finger on. 'Black Cab' and 'Lemon Glow' both use unusual synths to create a slightly psychadelic sound, while closer 'Last Wave' uses a piano motif and harmonies to see the listener out on a high. Overall it's one of the better dream pop albums I've heard in the past few years, even if my general distate for the genre means that it isn't a personal favourite. 8.1/10

ALBUM OF THE MONTH: haru nemei - harutosyura

Does liking this make me a weeb? If so I have been thoroughly converted. From the incorrect grammar and Scott Pilgrim-esque punk of opener 'MAKE MORE NOISE OF YOU' I was prepared for a kero kero Bonito-esque pop album with some Japanese influences but an ultimately cutesy sound. What the rest of 'harutosyura' ended up being was probably my favourite emo-rock album of the year, if it can be classified as such. The guitars on 'lostplanet' and the title track have the typical dreary quality that could be found on a Brand New or Linkin Park album, but Haru Nemei's apocolyptic rather than self-pitying lyrics and voice are much easier for me to listen to than either of those bands. When God being dead is a lyrical topic that appears on multiple songs you realise that this is not simply a J-pop album. The songs are also incredibly catchy and sonically diverse - centrepiece 'sekaiwotorikashiteokure' has raging guitars, glimmering synths, a robotic choir, pop punk 'Ooh-oohs' and rap verses - because Haru Nemei is also an extremely talented rapper. I admit that I would love this album even more if i could understand what Nemei is singing/rapping/shouting as she does it instead of having to look it up seperately, but even with the language barrier this is one of my favourite albums of the year so far. 8.9/10

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

March 2018 album reviews

XXXTENTACION - ?

'17' was one of the worst albums that I heard last year, and so this new project '?' wasn't something I was eagerly anticipating. As it is, it's a little better than '17', but has many of the same problems that made that album so unbearable. This time round there are some spots with more trap-influence and with a sense of humour, like 'infinity (888)' with Joey Bada$$ and even some of the more emo leaning tracks are OK this time around, like 'NUMB', which benefits from having more elements than the rest of the borderline unlistenable acoustic guitar led tracks like 'ALONE, PART 3' and 'Pain = BESTFRIEND', where XXX's grading sad-boy voice meanders over basic melodies making something that is both too depressing to enjoy yet too annoying to soothe any actual depression. Worst of all is the baffling decision to include 'i don't even speak spanish lol' which is a generic piece of latin pop, that despite the songs title, has no semblance of irony or subversion. It's good enough to probably not end up on any of my end-of-year lists, but I would recommend that anyone who thinks this is peak emo go listen to American Football or Sunny Day Real Estate. 3.3/10

The Voidz - Virtue

As a fan f the Strokes' last EP, I was eagerly anticipating 'Virtue' by Julian Casablancas' side-project The Voidz, who have typically made much more experimental and ambitious music than The Strokes, and this project is no exception. Although there are hints of the Strokes to be found on the opening 'Leave It In My Dreams', the album quickly goes beserk into a pile of wobbly synths and hindi-style vocals on 'QYURRYUS', and this mad mix of colourful sounds continues on highlights such as 'One of the Ones', 'Permanent High School' and 'My Friend The Walls'. At 55 minutes this album could have been refined a little more - 'Wink' sits obsolete in the middle of the tracklist - but the album is varied enough to stop it getting boring, and the final two tracks are two of my favourites on the LP. 8.3/10

The Weeknd - My Dear Melancholy

The musical equivalent of a bread sandwich. 3.5/10






Jack White - Boarding House Reach

Surely one of the craziest rock albums to come from an established artist in the past few years, 'Boarding House Reach' reverses the downward trajectory of Jack White's career by fusing his typical garage rock with funk, electronic music and gospel. 'Corporation' and 'Connected By Love' are some of the most insane and fun songs of his solo career so far, and the more straightforward 'Over and Over and Over' has the best snarling riff I've heard this year. It's far from a perfect album - the latter portion of the album, while still good, isn't at the same standard as the rest - but it's proof that artists don't have to slowly release diminishing albums as they get older. 8.5/10

Mount Eerie - Now Only

Last year's 'A Crow Looked At Me' was one of my favourite albums of the year, and stands as one of the most heart-breaking and depressing albums ever made, as it detailed Phil Elverum coping with the death of his wife to cancer. 'Now Only' is similarly depressing for the most part, but the songs are much longer and more orchestrated this time. While it is a very depressing album, there are glimpses of light this time, primarily on the title track which is the only song within this album and 'A Crow Looked At Me' to have a chorus, and one which is strangely upbeat at that. This project will definitely be appreciated by fans of Sun Kil Moon, but as much as I see this album as vital and likely something which wasn't created to be enjoyed, I do find it less powerful than 'A Crow Looked At Me'. The longer songs can become jading in a way that the short fragments of his previous album didn't, and the nature of the album makes it difficult to return to. It'll probably be the most depressing album of the year though. 7.9/10

Young Fathers - Cocoa Sugar

I wanted to like this album more than I did, it has an annoying mix of some of my favourite songs of the year so far - the chilling 'Toy' and the uplifting 'In My View' - but buried within impenetrable and formless tracks like 'Fee Fi' and 'Wire'. Overall it's still a good album and an interesting listen, but I can't help but feel like it could have been one of the best albums of the year. 6.8/10

American Pleasure Club - A Whole F**king Lifetime Of This

I've never been the biggest fan of Teen Suicide, and their rebranding as American Pleasure Club hasn't really changed this, although I would say that this album is still decent. The more emo-leaning songs here are the best ones, like 'this is heaven & id die for it' and 'new years eve', with some other more experimental stuff like 'just a mistake' also being fairly interesting. Unfortunately these moments are bogged down by some unmemorable tracks - closer 'the sun was in my eyes' and a bunch of very short songs which act as interludes - and the downright bad 'sycamore', which combines a lofi-hip hip aesthetic with muffled vocals and irritating pitch shifting. 6.3/10

Lil Yachty - Lil Boat 2

I didn't dislike 'Teenage Emotions' as much as many did, but I'm less enamoured by this new mixtape. it has some highlights, like the opener 'SELF-MADE', but then a whole load of boring and/or repetitive 'trap bangers', which are devoid of anything which made him appealing to begin with. The 6 track stretch between the title track and 'she ready' are brain numbingly identical in sound, while 'FLEX', 'POP OUT' and 'WHOLE lotta GUAP' are repetitive to the point of getting jading. While there are a few good songs on here, it is ultimately a depressing and generic experience. 3.4/10

Remo Drive - Pop Music EP

After releasing one of my favourite albums of last year, 'Greatest Hits', I was hoping that the pop-emo band would release something equally great as a follow up, and unfortunately this 'Pop Music EP' is a disappointment. 'Blue Ribbon' sounds like a B-side from 'Greatest Hits' with cleaner production that makes it sound quite generic. 'Song of the Summer' is better but still feels like a B-side. Most dissappointing is the re-recording of 'Heartstrings', which is far inferior to the raw, lo-fi original. 4.7/10

Andrew W.K - You’re Not alone

I was blown away by this thing on my first listen, having zero expectation of this being good, and after that first listen I was convinced this would be in my top 5 albums of the year, but on multiple listenings it's not quite as good as I first thought. Every song is so bombastic that it can get a little jading, but in general I'm still in awe of this album. 'Ever Again', 'The Devil's On Your Side' and 'Music Is Worth Living For' are exemplary of what makes Andrew's album so enjoyable, they have such a pure quantity of guitars, pianos and vocals in each song that they can't help but sound epic. The lyrics are largely about partying (and I would expect nothing else from the man), but there is enough variety to make even the biggest party-phobe smile. 8.3/10

Superorganism - Superorganism

This album grew on me a fair bit from my first listen, and while I initially thought it was an average indie-pop album, I now see it as something which is not only an interesting and fun listen, but something which is futuristic. Combining the sample-heavy nature of hip-hop and electronic music but adding in elements of pop and indie and all covered with the deadpan, jaded vocals of the lead singer. The singles are the best songs here - 'Something For Your M.I.N.D' and 'Everybody Wants To Be Famous', but the rest of the tracklist holds up well, especially 'It's All Good' and the title/self-titled track. 7.2/10

ALBUM OF THE MONTH: Anna Von Hausswolff - Dead Magic

I wasn't sure what I was in for when I first saw the unsettling album cover to 'Dead Magic' by Swedish musician Anna Von HaussWolff, but after a month of listening to it, I believe that the cover is a good summation of the sound of this record. 5 tracks and 50 minutes long, 'Dead Magic' is filled with tension and dread brought on by long droning organs and vocals which are alternately chanted softly in a ghost-like fashion or growled explosively as on standout track 'The Mysterious Vanishing of Electra'. It's also a very unique project, sounding unlike anything I've quite heard before. The ominous organ drones remind me of Swans work this decade, but while an album like 'To Be Kind' is dirty and frantic, this is a more orchestral, fear-filled affair, as if the listener is being slowly brought through a huge Swedish forest towards something terrifying which we never see but we can hear getting closer and closer... Surely one of the most atmospheric and thrillingly unsettling experiences of the year. 9.1/10

February Album reviews

Justin Timberlake - Man Of The Woods

This album is getting totally roasted by critics, and for the most part it deserves it, although I will also say that I don't think this is an outright awful project overall. Some parts are undeniably bad: the pretentious interludes, 'Supplies' (Along with it's music video) and the uncomfortable 'Sauce' - but most of the stuff here is just uninteresting. It's hard to imagine anyone particularly hating or liking 'The Hard Stuff' or 'Flannel' or the just-as-boring-as-the-title-suggests 'Livin' Off The Land' and 'Breeze Off The Pond'. There are even a few songs I enjoy here, the title track is a mid-tier Timberlake song and 'Filthy' is an incredibly brave if unfitting and awkward choice for the opening track. Even the more pop-country leaning 'Young Man' and 'Say Something' are pleasant enough. Hell, one of my biggest problems with JT in general is mostly absent here, as the songs don't climb into tedious 7-minute plus runtimes. So maybe not as bad as people are making it out to be, but no classic. 4.4/10

Dream Wife - Dream Wife

It seems Dream Wife have released a fairly average power pop album which has been favourably compared to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but I don't hear it. Nobody could argue anything on here is as good as 'Maps', but discounting this unfair comparison (Which is almost entirely because both bands are fronted by women and in the same genre), 'Dream Wife' is an album which would be better if it didn't sound like so many British 'Saviours of rock' from the 2010s as the music press tries to sell second-rate indie music to a fanbase which has moved on. Absolutely nothing is wrong with this album, it's just not what indie rock needs, and sounds like it could have come out about 10 years ago. 5.2/10

Rich Brian - Amen

Formerly known as Rich Chigga, Rich Brian is a trap-rapper that makes music which could only have come out in 2018, with lyrics heavily focused on internet culture and production which exemplifies the mish-mash of genres that my generation has been exposed to thanks to streaming. The production is the most appealing aspect of 'Amen', with songs like 'Cold' having a soundscape juicier than the majority of trap. Unfortunately despite having some great singles this album is ultimately held back by the lyrics, which aside from several lines every song, are the typical trap topics of sex ('Kitty'), flexing ('Occupied') and haters ('Enemies'). 6.3/10

Hookworms - Microshift

This is one of the most ambitious and surreal rock albums I've found so far this year. With strong influences from The Flaming Lips and Animal Collective (Specifically 'Merriweather Post Pavilion', with 'The Soft Season' sounding like an outtake from that very album), this is largely still a very original album. Filled with synth interludes and lengthy compositions, this would usually not be a particularly accessible album, but the melodies are so captivating. 7.9/10




TDE - Black Panther Soundtrack

Surprisingly cohesive, and I do quite like 'All The Stars' (Basically by SZA) and 'I Am' (Basically by Jorja Smith), but Kendrick is largely disappointing and FUTURE's god-awful falsetto on 'King's Dead' is one of the worst things i've heard all year. (Also the film was fairly average). 5.8/10







MGMT - Little Dark Age 

I was really hoping that 'Little dark age'  would live up to the 80s-drenched single of the same name, and it definitely has. Nothing on here even really sounds much like the song 'Little Dark Age' other than gothic synthpop anthem 'One Thing Left To Try', but all of the songs are linked by a fun-filled homage to the electronic side of the 80s, from the glorious silliness of 'She Works Out Too Much' and 'Me and Michael' to the morbidly twisted 'When You Die', with it's bendy, quirky riffs and expletive lyrics. It's not perfect, and while no track is below average the LP is certainly front loaded with it's four best songs being the first four tracks, but it's hard to complain when the closer 'Hand It Over' rolls in. 8.5/10

The Wombats - Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life

I have a love-hate relationship with The Wombats, and much of their material teeters on an awkward line between great and awful. I can't stand the twee cheesiness of 'Let's Dance To Joy Division', yet I've been playing 'Be Your Shadow' since it was released in 2015. This new album sadly falls mainly onto the twee cheesy side of things and I can't get behind it. The synthpop of their last album has been swapped out for an awkward combination of post-punk and pop that works alright on 'Lemon to a Knife Fight' but usually falls flat. The lyrics try desperately to be smart, especially shown on 'Turn', and it ends up becoming cringe-worthy. 4.5/10


U.S Girls - In a Poem Unlimited
This is a really weird album, and it mixes funk, pop, electronica and rock together in a way I haven't really heard before, and it works fantastically well. Opener 'Velvet 4 Sale' has jazzy wah-guitars, crackling synthesisers, horns and layers of vocals, all underpinned by a disco beat, and while some tracks follow this formula ('Rage Of Plastics'), others go in the complete other direction, like the electric storm of 'Incidental Boogie'. The production is also great, with the different elements being brought together with cohesion while maintaining breathing space in the mix. Difficult to classify in genre but easy to categorise in quality. 8.4/10

6ix9ine - DAY69

I have absolutely no idea what to think about DAY69, or 6ix9ine in general. His brand of trap is fairly unique, shouting abrasive curses over moody beats, but gets tiring quickly since most of the songs sound identical (Including having one song twice on the tracklist), even if they are entertaining. The mixtape is weighed down with two posse cuts, 'RONDO' and 'KEKE' which are fine, but sound completely separate from the rest of the material. Also, 6ix9ine could have at least removed the 'SCUUUMM GAAANG' intro from most of these tracks so nobody has to hear it 8 times in a row. 4.0/10

Car Seat Headrest - Twin Fantasy - ALBUM OF THE MONTH

I was heavily biased towards loving this album before it came out, the original 'Twin Fantasy', released in late 2011 is probably within my top 5 albums of all time. It's amazing then that I actually like this cleaner, updated version more than the original. This 2018 version takes everything great about the original - the songwriting, the lyrics and how uniquely and brilliantly interconnected the whole album is - and improves the major issue I had with the album, the ultra lo-fi production. Along the way there are a few moments I love in the original which have been lost, such as the intro to 'Cute Thing', the outro to 'Nervous Young Inhumans' (Which is otherwise soooooo much better on the 2018 version) and the 'Thank God for the little things, then f*ck God that they're little things' line in 'Beach Life-in-Death', but I can sacrifice these moments for the new moments that we get. 'High To Death' is  improved so much it sounds like a brand new song, the new outro to 'Twin Fantasy (Those Boys)' is shockingly romantic (Like most of the album), and with a massively improved mix 'Bodys' can finally live-up to its potential as maybe the best indie-rock anthem of the decade. Best of all are the improvements made to the 13 and 16 minute-long 'Beach Life-In-Death' and 'Famous Prophets (Stars)', the former benefiting from an increased variety of guitar sounds that stop the song getting as jading as the previous version could occasionally get, and the latter being transformed from a middling cut to one of the best songs on the album by a newly added outro which reaches a climactic high. This will almost undoubtedly be my album of the year and also has a real chance of being my favourite album of the decade. 10/10