MCCh 2018 (04) March 15

[Otisredding]

The best albums of 2018 (update March 15)

The numbers presented next to each album title are the weighted average rating, and, in brackets, average and number of ratings (out of 31 included sources). The weighted average is based on a formula that includes a) the average of ratings and b) the number of sources that have rated the album.

The magazines I used for the ratings were:
EUR + Australia: Gaffa-dk; Gaffa-sw; Humo; Indiestyle; Jenesaispop; Laut; Mondosonoro; Musikexpress; Nojesguiden; Ondarock; Plattentests; Sentire Ascoltare; The Music
UK: DIY; Drowned In Sound; The Guardian; Music OMH; NME; The Line Of Best Fit; The Skinny; The 405
USA + Canada: Allmusic; AV Club; Consequence Of Sound; Earbuddy; Exclaim!; Paste; Pitchfork; Popmatters; Rolling Stone; Under The Radar

Highlights: These are the top three songs from the album according to Allmusic, Consequence of Sound, Jenesaispop, Plattentests, The Skinny, Beardfood, BostonGlobe, Nowtoronto, Entertainment Weekly, etc…

New entry or Re-entry
Albums that have obtained new reviews and improved the score
Albums that have obtained new reviews but worsened the score

Out:
None

25 - Camp Cope: How To Socialise & Make Friends - 74,3 (77,6 / 11)
Highlights: The Opener - Anna - I’ve Got You
Indie Rock
[imgsize 220x220]https://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_1 ... 388848.jpg[/imgsize]


24 - Everything Is Recorded: Everything Is Recorded by Richard Russell - 74,3 (78,0 / 10)
Highlights: Close But Not Quite - Mountains of Gold - Cane
Alternative R&B
[imgsize 220x220]https://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_1 ... 359040.jpg[/imgsize]


23 - Anna Von Hausswolff: Dead Magic - 74,5 (76,5 / 15)
Highlights: Ugly and Vengeful - The Mysterious Vanishing of Electra - The Truth, the Glow, the Fall
Darkwave
[imgsize 220x220]https://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_1 ... 388837.jpg[/imgsize]


22 - Rae Morris: Someone Out There - 74,5 (78,9 / 8)
Highlights: Do It - Atletico (The Only One) - Reborn
Electropop
[imgsize 220x220]https://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_1 ... 369302.jpg[/imgsize]


21 - Superchunk: What A Time To Be Alive - 75,5 (76,4 / 18)
Highlights: What a Time to Be Alive - Erasure - Black Thread
Indie Rock
[imgsize 220x220]https://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_1 ... 380783.jpg[/imgsize]


20 - The Breeders: All Nerve - 76 (74 / 27)
Highlights: Wait in the Car - All Nerve - MetaGoth
Alternative Rock
[imgsize 240x240]https://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_1 ... 388857.jpg[/imgsize]


19 - Ezra Furman: Transangelic Exodus - 76,4 (78,4 / 15)
Highlights: Maraschino-Red Dress $ 8.99 at Goodwill - Suck the Blood from My Wound - Compulsive Liar
Indie Rock
[imgsize 240x240]https://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_1 ... 357202.jpg[/imgsize]


18 - First Aid Kit: Ruins - 76,4 (74,1 / 28)
Highlights: It's a Shame - Hem of Her Dress - Rebel Heart
Indie Folk
[imgsize 240x240]https://cdn-s3.allmusic.com/release-cov ... 812584.jpg[/imgsize]


17 - tUnE-YaRdS: I Can feel You Creep Into My Private Life – 76,8 (75,8 / 24)
Highlights: Heart Attack - ABC 123 - Look at Your Hands
Art Pop
[imgsize 240x240]https://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_1 ... 332487.jpg[/imgsize]


16 - MGMT: Little Dark Age – 77,0 (76,0 / 24)
Highlights: Little Dark Age - When You Die - Me and Michael
Synthpop
[imgsize 240x240]https://cdn-s3.allmusic.com/release-cov ... 843664.jpg[/imgsize]


15 - No Age: Snares Like a Haircut – 77,0 (78,7 / 16)
Highlights: Send Me - Cruise Control - Soft Collar Fad /b]
Noise Pop
[imgsize 260x260]https://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_1 ... 357019.jpg[/imgsize]


14 - Screaming Females: All At Once - 77,3 (80,6 / 10)
Highlights: Black Moon - Agnes Martin - Deeply
Indie Rock
[imgsize 260x260]https://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_1 ... 385324.jpg[/imgsize]


13 - Dream Wife: Dream Wife – 77,6 (78,9 / 17)
Highlights: Let's Make Out - Hey! Heartbreaker - Fire
Alternative Rock
[imgsize 260x260]https://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_1 ... 359022.jpg[/imgsize]


12 - Ought: Room Inside The World – 78,0 (78,4 / 20)
Highlights: Desire - Disaffectation - Disgraced in America
Post-Punk
[imgsize 260x260]https://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_1 ... 353780.jpg[/imgsize]


11 - Marlon Williams: Make Way for Love - 78,2 (79,2 / 18)
Highlights: Nobody Gets What They Want Anymore - Love Is a Terrible Thing - Come to Me
Chamber Folk
[imgsize 260x260]https://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_1 ... 359120.jpg[/imgsize]


10 - Jeff Rosenstock: Post- - 78,2 (82,9 / 7)
Highlights: USA - Yr Throat - Let Them Win
Power Pop
[imgsize 280x280]https://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_5 ... 355833.jpg[/imgsize]


09 - Lucy Dacus: Historian - 78,9 (79,9 / 18)
Highlights: Addictions - Night Shift - Nonbeliever
Singer-Songwriter
[imgsize 280x280]https://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_1 ... 388819.jpg[/imgsize]


08 - Hookworms: Microshift – 79,1 (79,7 / 19)
Highlights: Negative Space - Static Resistance - Ullswater
Neo-Psychedelia
[imgsize 280x280]https://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_1 ... 373676.jpg[/imgsize]


07- Nils Frahm: All Melody – 79,3 (78,3 / 24)
Highlights: Sunson - Kaleidoscope - My Friend the Forest
Ambient
[imgsize 280x280]https://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_1 ... 370292.jpg[/imgsize]


06 - Shame: Songs Of Praise – 79,4 (78,7 / 23)
Highlights: Concrete - One Rizla - Tasteless
Post-Punk
[imgsize 280x280]https://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_5 ... 346066.jpg[/imgsize]


05 - Kendrick Lamar: Black Panther: The Album OST – 79,5 (80,5 / 18)
Highlights: All the Stars - King’s Dead - Pray for Me
Hip Hop
[imgsize 300x300]https://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_1 ... 379895.jpg[/imgsize]


04 - Ty Segall: Freedom's Goblin – 79,7 (79,0 / 23)
Highlights: My Lady's on Fire - Fanny Dog - She
Garage Rock
[imgsize 300x300]https://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_5 ... 370319.jpg[/imgsize]


03 - Young Fathers: Cocoa Sugar - 79,7 (80,7 / 18)
Highlights: In My View - Toy - Wow
Neo-Soul
[imgsize 300x300]https://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_1 ... 379264.jpg[/imgsize]


02 - U.S. Girls: In A Poem Unlimited – 81,1 (80,8 / 22)
Highlights: Velvet 4 Sale - M.A.H. - Rosebud
Neo-Psychedelia
[imgsize 300x300]https://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_1 ... 380754.jpg[/imgsize]


01 - Car Seat Headrest: Twin Fantasy – 81,2 (80,9 / 22)
Highlights: Beach Life-in-Death - Cute Thing - Nervous Young Inhumans
Indie Rock
[imgsize 300x300]https://exclaim.ca//images/CarTF.jpg[/imgsize]

[Otisredding]

I'll just ask for above 70 albums before anyone else does again...

26 - Khruangbin: Con todo el mundo - 74,1 (77,5 / 11)
27 - Laurie Anderson & Kronos Quartet: Landfall - 74,0 (78,4 / 8)
28 - Soccer Mommy: Clean - 74,0 (75,7 / 16)
29 - Field Music: Open Here - 73,8 (76,8 / 12)
30 - Joan As Police Woman: Damned Devotion - 73,8 (75,4 / 16)
31 - Jonny Greenwood: Phantom Thread OST - 73,8 (78,4 / 7)
32 - Tracey Thorn: Record - 73,4 (75,1 / 16)
33 - Superorganism: Superorganism - 73,2 (73,2 / 21)
34 - The Soft Moon: Criminal - 72,9 (74,2 / 17)
35 - Son Lux: Brighter Wounds - 72,7 (76,0 / 11)
36 - The Spook School: Could It Be Different? - 72,3 (76,6 / 8)
37 - Rhye: Blood - 71,6 (70,6 / 24)
38 - Nap Eyes: I'm Bad Now - 71,5 (74,8 / 11)
39 - Joan Baez: Whistle Down the Wind - 71,2 (75,9 / 7)
40 - Django Django: Marble Skies - 70,8 (69,2 / 26)
41 - Shopping: The Official Body - 70,8 (73,8 / 12)
42 - Nathaniel Rateliff And The Night Sweats: - 70,4 (74,1 / 10)
43 - The Go! Team: Semicircle - 70,2 (69,9 / 22)

[Rob]

Thanks, Otisredding!

11 - Marlon Williams: Make Way Your Love - 78,2 (79,2 / 18)
Highlights: Nobody Gets What They Want Anymore - Love Is a Terrible Thing - Come to Me
Chamber Folk
[imgsize 260x260]https://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_1 ... 359120.jpg[/imgsize]

Just a little mistake, this album's title is Make Way For Love.

[Otisredding]

Just a little mistake, this album's title is Make Way For Love.

Ok. Thank you, Rob

[Nick]

Wow, I'm really shocked that the A.A.L album is nowhere to be found!

[Rob]

Just a little mistake, this album's title is Make Way For Love.

Ok. Thank you, Rob

I noticed another one. The title of the Everything Is Recorded album is Everything is Recorded by Richard Russell.

Updated playlist:



Albums not on Spotify:

Ty Segall - Freedom's Goblin
Fanny Dog
She
My Lady's On Fire

No Age - Snares Like a Haircut
Cruise Control
Send Me
Soft Collar Fad


Kendrick Lamarr is once again doing well, but where I could get behind DAMN, I feel that Black Panther is weaker. It is a collaborative effort, so not readily comparable, but I found it inconsistent. It seems to lift along the acclaim of the film.

[JohnnyBGoode]

Wow, I'm really shocked that the A.A.L album is nowhere to be found!

Probably not enough reviews

https://www.albumoftheyear.org/album/10 ... hp#critics

[Jirin]

A.A.L. isn't even on AllMusic, it's one of those albums somebody here found, got everyone else here to listen to, so it became popular here, but has basically not been promoted.

[Nassim]

A.A.L. isn't even on AllMusic, it's one of those albums somebody here found, got everyone else here to listen to, so it became popular here, but has basically not been promoted.

Got the "best new music" label on Pitchfork, used to be enough to get the rest of the press on board.

[Rob]

A.A.L. isn't even on AllMusic, it's one of those albums somebody here found, got everyone else here to listen to, so it became popular here, but has basically not been promoted.

It's #2 of the year on Rate Your Music too. Maybe it will be one of those albums that gathers more reviews in the coming weeks/ months because of its strong word of mouth and gets in later? Its not unheard of.

[Jirin]

I think Pitchfork has become stigmatized as hipsterish and judging music superficially based on its coolness. It doesn't have the pull it once did.

Personally the publication whose opinion I value the most is Popmatters. A 9 from Popmatters has a very high probability that I will like it no matter the genre.

I will give it to the Black Panther OST, I usually dislike soundtracks but I like this one. It works as an album on its own. It's not comparable to his other albums, of course, but judging it on the soundtrack standard, it's amazing.

The #1 is one I just plain do not get.

[Rob]

I will give it to the Black Panther OST, I usually dislike soundtracks but I like this one. It works as an album on its own. It's not comparable to his other albums, of course, but judging it on the soundtrack standard, it's amazing.

I listen to a lot of soundtracks (though more to film scores, if you want to make the difference) and although Black Panther has its own identity in this category it doesn't strike me as quite as special as many others. As a hip-hop album I think it is average and as a Kendrick Lamarr album, well, below expectations. I feel like this one is almost more rated as an event than as an album. And since soundtracks pretty much don't appear in this list at all it strikes me as rather questionable. If this one ends up at many EOY-lists (which I expect it will) I call shenanigans. But I guess that's just me.

The #1 is one I just plain do not get.

Currently, the only thing I don't like about Twin Fantasy is the album cover (and were last year was great for covers, this year's top picks generally range from underwhelming to bad on that front). But speaking of content, it's about as good as good as it gets for me.

[Otisredding]

MCCh 2018 (05) March 31