As 2018 comes to a close, Josh and Jack reflect on another year when artists stole our hearts and brought us into their worlds. Here, we tackle the difficult task of naming some of our favorite releases this year.
Be The Cowboy, Mitski
Mitski’s two previous albums— Bury Me at Makeout Creek and Puberty 2— captivated listeners with bleak rock songs about unrequited love and existential angst. In Be The Cowboy, she tells even more nuanced stories of emotional repression and loneliness, while her experimentation with piano and synthesizers results in her catchiest music to date. – Josh
Bloom, Troye Sivan
You could fill an entire stadium with albums recounting stories of teenage love, but rarely are they told as well as on Troye Sivan’s sophomore effort, Bloom. From a reflection of his first sexual encounter as a queer teen in “Seventeen” to his empathetic commentary on the uneven ending of a relationship (“The Good Side”), Sivan reveals a remarkably fresh and frank perspective on the topic. The wonderfully lush production work creates a dreamy, ethereal soundscape that mirrors the euphoric highs of love. At the age of 23, Troye Sivan continues to raise the bar for his rising generation of music talents. -Jack
Clean, Soccer Mommy
Soccer Mommy’s first LP is not concerned with the intricacies of “modern love.” In Clean, love is animalistic and elemental, expressed through claws and teeth, blood and bone, changing seasons and orbiting planets. Beautiful guitar melodies and songs about evading parents on a summer night keep the album grounded in the traditions of great rock music. – Josh
A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships, The 1975
The Internet Age has tested our ability to forge and maintain deep, meaningful connections with each other. It’s a challenge that yields no clear answers, but The 1975’s A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships shines a brutally honest spotlight on its emotional consequences. With a an eclectic juxtaposition of glimmering electronic synths, classic jazz, folk, and R&B, the record’s musical styles treads along the very boundary of artifice and reality, past and present, that society has increasingly confronted. Even when the production is cheerfully optimistic, the accompanying lyrics are frequently stark and pained (“Love It If We Made It”, “I Like America and America Likes Me”). The final result is a record that unmasks the often-confusing blend of thoughts and emotions that come with living in the digital age and ultimately humanizes that experience. – Jack
Daytona, Pusha-T
After ending a five-year wait for his next opus, Pusha-T boasted of having “the luxury to drop when he want/’Cause nobody else can fuck with me.” His decision to rename his album after a Rolex watch was another way of celebrating this “luxury of time.” But DAYTONA also benefited from restrictions enforced by its producer, Kanye West. By limiting the album to seven tracks and sticking with sparse electronic beats throughout, Kanye makes Pusha T’s third studio album an airtight masterpiece, delivering ferocious disses and memorable glimpses into the dark underworld of drug dealers. – Josh
Caution, Mariah Carey
To say the least, it’s been an uneven couple of years for the legendary Mariah Carey. As her Christmas anthem “All I Want For Christmas Is You” continues to scale higher up the charts each holiday season, she has faced a number of career setbacks and flops – most notably her New Year’s’ Eve lip-syncing debacle in 2016 and continued coverage about the decline in her vocal ability. But her first LP in four years, an aptly-titled Caution, results in some of her best work in ages. As a legacy artist, there’s an inherent Catch-22 with each release: adapt too much and get called out for trend-following (and alienating your fan base). Or keep your classic sound intact and risk sounding out-of-touch. Mariah successfully navigates through both hurdles, experimenting with new producers (e.g., Skrillex, Nineteen85) with surprisingly fresh results while ensuring the finished product is “Mariah-certified”. This is best exemplified with the album’s highlight, “A No No”, which sees her deliver fierce and sassy lines over a sample of Lil Kim’s 1997 classic, “Crush on You”. – Jack
Lush, Snail Mail
Lush weaves together feelings of exuberance and melancholy to create a perfect indie rock soundtrack for the summer. With thoughtful lyrics and dreamy guitar lines, Snail Mail brings listeners into the confusing moments between loving someone and letting them go. –Josh
Black Panther: The Album, Kendrick Lamar and various artists
2018’s biggest blockbuster film was accompanied by an equally adventurous soundtrack. Curated by Kendrick Lamar, Black Panther: The Album pushed beyond the boundaries of traditional soundtrack fare and instead delivered a bold collection of songs that stand just as well alone. The highlight of the album is the Kendrick, Vince Staples, Yugen Blackrok collab “Opps”, which immerses you into 3 minutes of non-stop pounding energy and unexpected rhythmic twists. This is hip-hop, pop, Afro-soul, and R&B styles blended together at its best. –Jack
Golden Hour, Kacey Musgraves
Already known as a rebellious free spirit (by Nashville standards), Kacey Musgraves added to that reputation on “Golden Hour” by bringing elements of disco and psychedelic rock into her upbeat country songwriting. In an era of widespread cynicism, the album is a moving ode to going through life with an open heart and a sense of wonder. – Josh
Invasion of Privacy, Cardi B
A top albums list for 2018 wouldn’t be complete without Cardi B, arguably the year’s biggest star. After hitting the top of the charts late last year “Bodak Yellow”, the big question on everyone’s mind was how she would back up that monster hit in 2018. Would live up to the hype and pressure? If there were any doubts, she quickly dispelled them with Invasion of Privacy. One of the strongest debuts in recent memory, Invasion of Privacy shows off Cardi B’s versatility as an artist. While she boasts about “diamonds on my wrist” in “Drip” and “run[ning] this shit like cardio” on the Latin-infused summer jam, “I Like It”, other tracks reveal much more vulnerability and introspection. The gradual musical crescendo of “Get Up 10” mirrors her unabashed account of her own rise to fame, while “Be Careful” provides an deeply personal “warning” (not a threat) about past dealings with infidelity. With more Hot 100 #1’s already than any other female rapper and five Grammy nominations, the future certainly looks bright for this Bronx native. –Jack
Voicenotes, Charlie Puth
Charlie Puth is an incredibly gifted musician and producer— and he’s not shy about it, either. That talent wasn’t evident in the bland ballads that made him famous. But Puth won over many of his most disparaging critics this year with Voicenotes, an album full of irresistible riffs on old-school R&B and pop. – Josh
Joshua Tree Music 