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Has this year’s best album been released yet?

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Last year there were a few albums that I thought were outstanding. Brother Ali’s was the pick of the bunch, but Gary Numan, Lorde, Kendrick Lamar and Ghostpoet weren’t far behind. Then there were great albums by Syd, Thurston Moore, Jane Weaver and Binary Star, with The Charlatans also turning in their best for years. As I’m doing this album ranking project I sort the 2018 ones as I hear them, amending as necessary after further listens, but thus far I’d struggle to put any in last year’s top 10.

Kooley High and J. Cole are my pick of the bunch so far this year, with Poppy Ackroyd and Evidence’s new albums also being good. Andy Pawlak has released a decent mini-album, which is a million miles from his 80s debut album, which was fab, and Damien Jurado has released his best album for years. None of these are really growing on me fast enough to be as good as last year’s top half dozen, although I am enjoying J. Cole’s more with every listen. I listened to Pusha T’s new one for the first time this morning and it sounded like it could be his best solo one yet, thanks to Kanye West’s excellent production, but the whole album clocks in at 21 minutes. I am always banging on to my missus about hip hop CDs being too long, as too often they seem to think they need to fill the 78 minutes so the good stuff gets watered down with filler, but 21 minutes wasn’t what I had in mind (unless it was something by the rubbish my daughter subjects us to).

But, each year there are some great albums in everybody’s end of year list that I hadn’t heard, so, to jump the gun somewhat, what am I missing so far this year? What’s the best new stuff you’re listening to?

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Comments

  2. There’s an album I’ve been meaning to push for months now – Peter Broderick’s All Together Again. It actually came out at the end of last year, but it’s so ace I’m going to give it a plug here. Introspective electronica that might appeal to fans of Nils Frahm, Olafur Arnalds, Goldmund etc. Here’s the album’s centrepiece, ‘A Ride On The Bosphorus’.

  3. It’s the year of drum & bass. The genre has never been in ruder health. Check…

    Carnal Mind by L Side
    Everything is Temporary by Amoss
    A Matter of Time by Acid lab
    OneMind by OneMind

    And especially…

    Something Blue by Blocks & Escher

    • Just had a quick flick through these and particularly like the sound of Carnal Mind and Something Blue. Probably means those are at the more accessible end of drum and bass, because when I hear the words drum and bass I think of Ringo and Paul.

      • Yep, a few new ones to try out further down, but so far those two are the best, and better than anything else I’ve heard this year I think. Everything needs a few more listens though.

        What else (not just this year) would you recommend to someone who was very impressed with Carnal Mind and Something Blue? It’s an area where I’m lacking, but those two are great.

        • We’re in a new golden age, I’m telling you, Paul! Not this year, but recentish, my favourites are…

          Corners by Naibu (do check this out — it really is *very* good)
          The Deep by Calibre (ditto)
          Last Refuge of a Scoundrel by Dom & Roland (ditto)

          Then…

          The Mistress by Spectrasoul
          Delusions of Grandeur by Soul Intent
          Polarism by Gerra & Stone
          Self by Om Unit

          If you fancy something a bit darker…

          Pessimist by Pessimist
          Smoke Signals by Overlook

          • On first listen, just flicking through them, the Naibu one sounds excellent and I like the sound of the Pessimist one. Reminded me of Burial in places. Looking forward to listening through them fully when I get the chance, as it’s half-term, so trip to the cinema tomorrow so my wife can get all her conference calls done. The new Han Solo film, so me and the boy are looking forward to that one. Before that there’s an exhibition of Star Wars toys at the museum in Barnsley by some mega-collector. I imagine it will resemble the boy’s bedroom, but without clothes all over the floor.

          • Okay @leicester-bangs you’ve started something now haven’t you! I’ve been listening to all these albums over the past few days and they’re brilliant. What’s more, I recommended them to my brother-in-law who’s also hooked. So, expand the criteria beyond the past couple of years. What else would you recommend along these lines? Costing me a fortune, by the way, but I’m not going to let it take over my life like hip hop did!

              • As long as you want. All I have is Timeless by Goldie*, and I’ve just ordered Colours by Adam F and Modus Operandi by Photek, as they seem to be the most highly rated ones.

                *Actually, I may have one or two more albums that I didn’t realise were drum and bass, as I clearly didn’t know how varied it can sound!

                • Some personal favourites (and good spread of styles)

                  Wormhole by Ed Rush & Optical, Inside the Machine by Bad Company, Molten Beats by Ram Trilogy, Sleepwalk by Matrix, Diagnostics by Technical Itch, Infrastructure by J Majik, The Start of Something by Moving Fusion, DJ Kicks by Kemistry & Storm, Breakbeat Kaos by Adam F and DJ Fresh, True Colours by High Contrast, FabricLive mixes from Marcus Intalex, dBridge & Instra:Mental, Friction, Calibre and Calyx & Teebee, Mixmag Presents the Takeover Bid, Industry by Dom & Roland, Exorcise the Demons by Source Direct, Call to Mind by Commix, Progression Session 1 by LTJ Bukem, Belief System by Special Request.

                  Could list many more, but that’ll do for starters…

                    • If you’re looking for Wormhole try to get the version with the continuous mix on disc 2 – it’s a joy.
                      If you can’t find it, I’d be happy to send you a copy…

                    • @sewer-robot – there doesn’t seem to be a reply button to your comment, but thanks for the recommendation and I went for disc 2 first. And you’re not wrong. It was a great soundtrack to fixing some overstacked wonky shelves and pinning them to the wall. The hardest bit was taking everything off them and putting it all back on again. I’m not cut out for manual work! So Wormhole (and The Last Refuge of a Scoundrel and A Matter of Time from @leicester-bangs list) made it all a lot more tolerable!

                      Had to pause it whilst my wife helped me to lift the units back up though, because all that banging noise stopped her from being able to concentrate apparently…

  4. You are asking for my top albums of the year so far? Great! The exact order remains in a state of flux as it’s early days, listening wise, for many of them but A Humdrum Star is a clear leader at this point.

    GoGo Penguin – A Humdrum Star
    Ry Cooder -The Prodigal Son
    Sons Of Kemet – Your Queen Is A Reptile
    Rival Consoles – Persona
    Orquesta Akokan
    Janelle Monae – Dirty Computer
    Pusha T – DAYTONA
    Calexico – The Thread That Keeps Us
    Daniel Avery – Song For Alpha
    Mélissa Leveaux – Radyo Siwèl
    You Are Wolf – Keld
    Modern Studies – Welcome Strangers
    Hookworms – Micro Shift
    Steve Ellis – Boom! Bang! Twang!
    The Breeders – All Nerve

  5. Ooh! Much too early – still absorbing
    But
    I’d say this year’s albums by
    Jean Grae & Quelle Chris
    U.S. Girls
    Gwenno
    Dubmatix/ Sly & Robbie
    The Last Poets
    John Prine
    Darlingside
    Cavern Of Antimatter
    are worth a listen, along with the abovementioned..

  7. Two of mine have been mentioned above already, Go Go Penguin and Sons of Kemet.

    In no particular order:

    Anna Von Hausswolff – Dead Magic
    Jonathan Wilson – Rare Birds
    Gwenno – Le Kov
    Khruangbin – Con Todo El Mundo
    Cavern of Anti-Matter – Hormone Lemonade
    Beautify Junkyards – The Invisible World of
    Trembling Bells – Dungeness
    Poppy Ackroyd – Resolve
    Laurie Anderson & The Kronos Quartet – Landfall
    Eleanor Friedberger – Rebound
    Half Man Half Biscuit – No-one Cares About Your Creative Hub So Get Your Fuckin’ Hedge Cut (A chart bound sound for the first time in their history!)

  8. Has the album of the year been released yet?
    No, I don’t think it has.

    Best so far:
    Hookworms (as mentioned above)
    Frank Turner (it’s very good, but probably not a classic)
    Manic Street Preachers – Resistance Is Futile (the best of the past and present)
    The Damned – Evil Spirits (echoes of Black Album and Strawberries, with added Scott Walker)

    Too early to tell, but slowly building:
    Gaz Coombes – Worlds Strongest Man
    Parquet Courts – Wide Awake
    Courtney Barnett – TellMe How You really Feel

    • The Gaz Coombes album is the one I’ve enjoyed most this year so far mostly because it sounds like a companion to the Radiohead album Moon Shaped Pool. It reminds me of everything I like about that album but at this early stage has overtaken it. Other than their Oxford roots, I’d never have lumped them together.

      Other than that I’ve enjoyed the Field Music album Open Here. Up to their usual high standard.

      I’ve a feeling the HMHB new album will feature on my end of year list.

      Perennial favourites Silver Seas and Joan as Police Woman’s albums haven’t registered as classics yet but I’ll persist!

  9. Afterworders:

    I wouldn’t want to reveal all my favourite albums released in the past 146 days, as that would take all the fun out of my end-of-year list, but I will let slip 3 nominations, should you wish to investigate them further:

    Shinya Fukumori Trio – “For 2 Akis”
    Group Listening – “Clarinet & Piano: Selected Works Vol. 1”
    Aketi Ray – “From Ever Since”

    These three records come with the duco01 seal of approval. It’s the mark you can trust. Probably.

    • Interesting. I found 2 Akis blended into the background rather too well. The second one, I haven’t heard of but ambient versions of Eno songs sounds right up my avenue. The third is already on its way in the post, another Jazz/Reggae hybrid from London. Should be marvellous.

  11. As usual, I’ve never heard of quite a lot of those mentioned above, but the following have been troubling the silver disc player quite a lot recently.

    Simone Felice – The Projector
    Gretchen Peters – Dancing With The Beast
    Decemberists – I’ll Be Your Girl
    Lord Huron – Vide Noir
    Grant Lee Phillips – Widdershins
    Laura Veirs – The Lookout
    Calexico – The Thread That Keeps Us
    Jonathan Wilson – Rare Birds
    Bombino – Deran
    Ray Lamontagne – Part Of The Light
    Fatoumata Diawara – Fenfo
    H.C. McEntire – Lionheart

  12. For different reasons (other big expenses, lack of time, a spell of music fatigue for a while) I’ve bought considerably less albums so far this year than I usually do, and about half of those haven’t been given enough listens to receive a fair judgement yet.
    But the ones I’d recommend out of a fairly small selection are:
    Anna Ternheim – All the Way to Rio
    Ezra Furman – Transangelic Exodus
    Imarhan – Temet
    Jonathan Wilson – Rare Birds
    Jenny Wilson (no relation to Jonathan) – Exorcism
    Courtney Marie Andrews – May Your Kindness Remain
    Out of these, Imarhan probably is the strongest for me.

    Very few truly great albums are released in the spring, for some reason. Unfortunately, lots of great books to buy all year round, so I’m still not saving much money… 😉

      • Baron and Bamber…they did apparently, on the 6music stage, 6music being where I first heard them. They were on Later recently looking very lairy and new wavey.
        I think @dr-volume has seen them recently and there’s an atmosphere and attitude at their gigs. Latest tour is sold out and I’m going to see them in London in November where I’m expecting to be out of place . They seem to be on the up.

        The album’s good. Spiky, snotty, punchy and tuneful.

        • Yeah, they were live tracks from this weekend that they played on 6Music but I didn’t get the name of the band at the time. Apparently they were very well received and sounded v.g. to me. I don’t know if their music is my kind of thing but you have to appreciate musical talent when you hear it.

  16. For me it`s another good year for new music and re-issues. Mostly American singer/songwriters make up my list with a couple of UK bands making my Top Ten So Far In `18. All of the Americana stylee apart from Norwegian Progsters Gazpacho with `Soyuz`. These guys continue to put out high class albums every couple of years, they are really good.

    Bennett Wison Poole – S.T.
    Trembling Bells – Dungeness
    Ry Cooder – The Prodigal Son
    Jonathan Wilson – Rarebirds
    Simon Felice – The Projector
    Damien Jurado – The Horizon Just Laughed
    Ray Lamontagne – Part Of The Light
    Wooden Shjips – V
    Calexico – The Thread That Keeps Us
    Gazpacho – Soyuz

    Re-Issues that have been bothering the Harkonnen turn-table and CD player:

    Hugh Masekela – 66-76
    Van Dyke Parks – Song Cycle* Not really a re-issue but I`ve been playing it lots.
    Love – Forever Changes 50th Anniversary SE
    Holger Czukay – Cinema
    Procol Harum – Still There’ll Be More: An Anthology 1967-2017

    Forthcoming albums from…

    Arthur Buck – Singer Songwriter Joseph Arthur & REM`s Peter Buck
    Jimmy Dale Gilmour & Dave Alvin – Americana Royalty

    …are being looked forward to around here, by me anyhow. The Baroness maybe not.

    The most played stuff in the last few weeks have my `White Album` bootlegs in anticipation of a 50th Anniversary SE BIG box release. It would be good to have the Esher demos released in full.

    I will be investigating some of the nominations on here if only `cos I like the name!

  17. There are a few I’ve not fully heard yet that interest me. The Bennett Wilson Poole debut album, Ry Cooder’s “The Prodigal Son” and GoGo Penguin’s “A Humdrum Star” for a start.
    Those I’ve liked and bought so far are “Togetherness” by Ed Bennett/Decibel, “We Are The Wildlife” by Brona McVittie, “Scarlet Fever” by Green Seagull, “Resolve” by Poppy Ackroyd and “Adventure” by Lydian Collective.
    Of these, the best of the bunch are “Resolve”, “We Are The Wildlife” (don’t be put off by the frankly awful cover art) and “Adventure”.
    Forthcoming/just released albums that I’m interested in are Jon Hassell’s “Listening To Pictures (Pentimento Volume One)”, Norma Waterson & Eliza Carthy’s “Anchor” and Pieter Nooten’s “Stem”.

  20. Not a lot has really grabbed me, so far. It’s been a year of mild disappointment up to now.
    I’ll start with the ones that have left me un-moved
    Jonathan Wilson – Rare Birds
    Ryley Walker – Deafman Glance
    Laura Veirs – The Lookout
    I’ll try them again, of course, over the rest of the year and hope for a breakthrough.
    Much more interesting are the enjoyable albums. Lots of 8/10’s up to now, but nothing to suggest a 9 might be emerging [we’ll see]
    In no particular order, apart from the at the end.

    Wye Oak – The Louder I Call, the Faster It Runs
    Josh Rouse – Love in The Modern Age
    Damien Jurado – The Horizon Just Laughed
    Shakey Graves – Can’t Wake Up
    Thievery Corporation – Treasures From The Temple
    Titus Andronicus – A Productive Cough
    First Aid Kit – Ruins
    The album that I’ve played the most is ‘Twentytwo In Blue’ by Sunflower Bean, which is a hooky, catchy, harmony laden guitar/drum/bass/voice amalgamation of the last 40+ years of melodic rock. Here’s a taster – ‘I Was A Fool’

  21. Hip-hop-wise, the three I’ve listened to most this year so far would be
    “Moosebumps” – Dr Octagon
    “Czarface” – Czarface meets M.F.Doom
    “Wizville” – Ocean Wisdom

    Beyond that, I’d probably go for something like this lot, if we’re keeping it to ten
    Parquet Courts – “Wide Awake!”
    HMHB – “No One Cares…”
    Moaning – “Moaning”
    Mint Field – “Pasar De Las Luces”
    Mastersystem – “Dance Music”
    Camp Cope – “How To Socialise”
    Breeders – “All Nerve”
    Orielles – “Silver Dollar”
    Dream Wife – “Dream Wife”
    Shopping – “The Official Body”

    • I was a little bit disappointed with the Czarface meets DOOM and Dr Octagon albums. I’m a big fan of DOOM and have spent a great deal of time (and money!) tracking down all his CDs under his umpteen guises, and I also really like Czarface’s first three albums, but I was expecting a little more. I need to give it a few more listens I think. Similar with the Dr Octagon album, although I haven’t been that bothered about any of Kool Keith’s most recent albums.

      • I know what you mean. I’ve listened to them quite a bit and do like them, but would struggle to describe them as great albums. Will check out the things on your list that I don’t know.

  22. I’m so out of touch. This thread is great as it gives me a few things to follow up on Spotty. The Ry album is good but I’ve got loads of Ry already. Tracy Thorn’s album didn’t grab me at all though, which is odd since I love pretty much everything she has ever done. Not sure why. But I will dip into the others mentioned here!

  23. I don’t really bother much with new music so I’m out of my depth a bit here but I loved ‘Out of all this Blue’ by The Waterboys. Their best yet I reckon.

  24. Compro by Skee Mask is an amazing record. Somewhere on the borders of techno, drum n bass, and breakbeat, with some astonishing drum programming going on, as well as super lush emotive pads. Quite possibly going to be my album of the year, unless the Deafheaven album is as good as the single

    (you’ll be wanting to turn up the bass)

    I’ve also very much enjoyed the albums from Green Druid, Poppy Ackroyd, The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing, Lucy Dacus, Seun Kuti, Earthless, Mol, Jon Hopkins and Daniel Avery. I should do some more reviews really.

  25. Erm … has anyone mentioned the ‘new’ E.S.T. (Esbjörn Svensson Trio) album “Live in London” yet?

    I’m listening to it now, and am happy to report that it’s really good. A live recording from the Barbican, 2005.

    I know there are plenty of Esbjörn fans on this board. If you haven’t heard “Live in London” yet, make time for it.

  27. Based on the love shown here, I gave Ry Cooder’s latest a couple of digital spins & it’s wonderful.

    Another one: Lo Moon. Derivative? Yes. Quality? Better than most. Got a problem with that? I’ve played it more than 50 times already…

  29. The three albums so far I expect to be on my end of year list are by Anna & Elizabeth, Willie Nelson and Karine Polwart (the latter from December 2017).

    Peatbog Faeries and Joan Baez are also contenders, and I have high hopes for upcoming releases from Bush Gothic, Norma Waterson & Eliza Carthy and Richard Thompson.

  30. Underwhelmed by new ones from Tracey Thorn, David Byrne, Breeders, Belly, and Vienna Ditto*

    Still playing chez Fentons:
    Field Music – Open Here (although I can see why not everybody gets on with them)
    The Pony Collaboration – Everything Was Ages Ago (Cambridge’s answer to Tindersticks-cum-Belle&Sebastian, a great album chock-full of indie-pop choons).
    Pale Waves – EPs (a sort of electro-goth girl-group take on poppier end of The Cure)

    (*) Vienna Ditto actually recorded two albums worth of material and released the secret album to project funders. I just haven’t got round to listening to it yet.

  31. My favourite debut of the year so far is either The Orielles’ Silver Dollar Moment which my eldest daughter turned me onto and is a fine effort from a band so young.

    The Orielles – I Only Bought It For The Bottle

    or it’s Olden Yolk’s eponymous LP which I enjoy for its oldness.

    Olden Yolk – Cut To The Quick

  32. Right now I’m pretty sure Neko Case’s new one is going to feature in my favourites of the year. There’s great variety, songs that grab quickly and others that warrant repeated listening to fully appreciate. There’s also a completeness to the album which hasn’t always been the case with previous albums where often I’ve felt she’s trying on different styles and fails to hit the mark as she’s unsure which works best.

    Curse of the I-5 Corridor is representative of the album’s blend of the unusual and the familiar. It’s representative of how she’s managed to reconcile the quirks in her song-writing with the need to find some kind of resolution in the music. Lyrically she’s hitting the mark as well. This is just a stunning piece of music.

  33. Lots of interesting recommendations above, thank you.

    I’m not sure anyone is still looking but just in case here are a few that I have enjoyed that I haven’t seen mentioned
    1. Minami Deutsch – With Dim Light (Japanese Krautrock)
    2. Dead Meadow – The Nothing They Need
    3. Beach House – 7
    4. Rival Consoles – Persona
    5. Mark Pritchard – The Four Worlds
    6. Trembling Bells – Dungeness
    7. Ty Segall – Freedom’s Goblin

    Best though? Nils Frahm

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