10 Best Albums of 2018

* Honorable Mentions: Chime by Dessa, Church of Scars by Bishop Briggs, Shiny and Oh So Bright, Vol. 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun by Smashing Pumpkins, Vector by Haken, Ye by Kanye West

10.) Eclipse by Joey Alexander: There isn't a better jazz pianist alive than 15-year-old Joey Alexander. His finesse, his style, and his technical ability all coalesce into a casual brilliance that is unbelievable. Eclipse might be his best album yet, mostly because Alexander himself wrote many of the songs. He wears his influences on his sleeve, particularly Chick Corea and Bill Evans, but by the record's end you really get a feel for the boy behind the keys. I can't wait to see where he goes next. Standout track: "Eclipse" is a versatile jazz epic, exploring contrasting genres and influences.

9.) Black Coffee by Beth Hart and Joe Bonamassa: Two of our finest musicians teaming up to craft the gutsiest blues record of the decade, Beth Hart and Joe Bonamassa make Black Coffee one hell of a collaboration. Epic in scale yet intimate in impact, the virtuoso performances remind us that the blues are still relevant and righteous. Hart's voice is furious fire; Bonamassa's guitar is cooler than midnight in winter. Together? They are just right. Standout track: "Damn Your Eyes" is what the album's title suggests - familiar, bitter, and a real wake-up call.

8.) Inscape by Alexandra Streliski: Classical piano albums might not have mass appeal, but they often echo in the warmest parts of our souls. Inscape is more an incantation than a record, a collection of melodies and performances that find the forgotten pieces of ourselves, reawakening them to the world. It's a sadly sweet work of art, one that is brave, beautiful, and brilliant. Standout track: there are few songs this year as painfully poetic as "Burnout Fugue."

7.) Sunhead by Plini: Plini is one of the best guitarists working today, and on Sunhead he's equal parts Steve Vai and Stanley Jordan. This album is a curious little thing - finding funk in metal and making fist-pumping anthems out of smooth jazz. It's weird, but a very good kind of weird. These songs scratch an itch I didn't even know I had. I love it. Here's hoping Plini continues to experiment in the future. Standout track: the yin-yang balance between jazz and metal is perfectly achieved on "Flaneur."

6.) Artificial Selection by Dance Gavin Dance: Hearkening back to high school summers of screamo and humble hardcore, Artificial Selection is a bright, bouncy testament to the genre's staying power. The melodies are effervescent, the instrumentation is electric, and Tilian Pearson's vocals are perfect - textured and elastic and emotive. This thing is auditory sunshine, blasting out from your speakers and filling you with light. Standout track: "Midnight Crusade" shows off the album's dynamic heart, with an unshakable hook, glittery guitar work, and my favorite bridge of 2018.

5.) Prequelle by Ghost: How can you not love an album like this? Sure, it's melodramatic hair-metal vibe is cheesy and more than a little dated. But you know what? It's an adrenaline shot of unadulterated, unpretentious rock & roll. Prequelle might not be Ghost's best outing, but it manages to keep you head-banging along with every track. In an age where most rock is either syrupy sweet or rawer than roadkill, this one finds the perfect middle ground. Standout track: "Faith" is, without question, my favorite rock song of the year. Boom.


4.) Schmaltz by Spanish Love Songs: I have to say this pretty much every year, so here it is again: Thanks, Austin. Schmaltz is the epitome of millennial disillusionment - a dejected, angsty ode to life in 2018. The instrumentation and arrangements are raw, delivered with a low-fi punkitude that borders on disheveled. The guitar hooks are fabulous, filling in the melodic gaps left by the gravelly, choked vocals. I'd have loved this album in high school, but I admire it now. It is perhaps the most emotionally honest album of the year, unafraid to stare into the abyss of modern times and rage against the dying of the light. Standout track: I really love them all, but the opening track ("Nuevo") sets the album's bleak tone perfectly. To say it's nihilistic is an understatement, but it's somehow enjoyable nonetheless.

3.) Kids See Ghosts by Kids See Ghosts: I don't care what he says, I don't care what he tweets; Kanye West is a genius. On Kids See Ghosts he teams up with Kid Cudi to continue his musical dynasty. There are echoes of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, The Life of Pablo, and even The College Dropout - a multifaceted, exploratory sound. This is a short record, consisting of only 7 impeccable songs. In an era of overblown musical odysseys, this is a huge relief. But brevity isn't its only success. The psychedelic, disjointed nature of the album gives it a truly unique spot in the hip-hop world of 2018 - moving beyond the trappings of trap and the holdover excesses of bling. Standout track: "4th Dimension" is wacky, funky, and fully displays the idiosyncratic awesomeness of Kanye West and how Kid Cudi tempers his absurdities.

2.) Vaxis - Act 1: The Unheavenly Creatures by Coheed and Cambria: While it's musically and thematically overblown, Unheavenly Creatures nonetheless stands as a testament to the power of prog-metal. It's an album of exquisite diversity - of soaring guitar solos and fragile vocals, of interstellar synths and tribal percussion. Putting aside the ludicrous plot, built upon decades of space-opera mythology (which is something I've admittedly neglected from the beginning), the sheer musicianship on display is satiating enough. Epic metal visions like this don't get the airplay or the attention they deserve, yet I'm ecstatic to live in a world where it still gets produced. Help me evangelize the word, huh? Standout track: the anthemic yet sophisticated opener "The Dark Sentencer" is the band's best single since 2005.

1.) Dirty Computer by Janelle Monae: I came to this album later than most, but I gotta say, it was waiting for me with open arms. Janelle Monae is a straight-up legend, and on this record she cements her status as the new queen of pop. The blend of genres here, from funk to soul to trap to jazz, is astonishing. Each song reverberates with aesthetic resonance, with a shimmering, lustrous aura. The album plays out like some warm, eclectic daydream, with new voices and ideas expressing themselves at random. This is Stevie Wonder, Prince, Madonna, and Lauryn Hill all folded into one. Like most albums with a political edge, it's occasionally weighed down by trendy platitudes and ideological hubris, but...gosh, the music more than makes up for it. Dirty Computer is a fun, fully realized pop experience - probably the best record from the genre in years. It is, surely, the best record of 2018. Standout track: "Screwed" is an absolute stunner, with cutthroat lyrics and a middle-finger vibe.