As another year draws to a close, it’s time to look back on our Favorite Tracks of 2018. While the past twelve months have been quite tumultuous from a socio-political perspective, artists from across the musical spectrum continued to offer a vision of resistance in the face of growing chaos. Using their art as a lens by which to diagnose our collective psyche, listening to this playlist might bring you to the conclusion that we’ve got some serious “Daddy Issues” on our hands. While there are several notable examples here, The Soft Moon‘s “Like A Father” draws the straightest line. The track finds Luis Vasquez performing an eviscerating self-examination of his own dependency and addiction, before acknowledging the song’s titular protagonist as the “ghost of my problem.”
It’s no wonder then that Eartheater begins her eye raising track “C.L.I.T.“–an acronym which stands for “Curiosity Liberates Infinite Truth”–with the line “I resisted the culture,” before asking, “Do you blame me?” This questioning of the values by which a society operates, including more specifically its’ patriarchial norms and assumptions, can be heard throughout music in 2018. On this list you’ll find a host of female-led bands like FRIGS, Drahla, Pill, Loma and Screature, and while different in their individual ways, in each case their art points to a passionate engagement with some of the most pressing issues of the day.
Below, you can stream this year’s Top 10 choices. In addition, this Spotify playlist collects together all 20 of our favorite tracks from 2018, including, in order, songs from Oneohtrix Point Never, Pill, The Soft Moon, BLYPKEN, Darto, Robert Lippock, Jon Hassell, Margenrot, Joel Paton/Deer Venom, and Girls Names.
10. The Callas With Lee Renaldo “Acid Books“
2018 saw the Greek-based art collective The Callas hook up with Sonic Youth’s Lee Renaldo, and the result was the excellent LP Trouble and Desire out on Inner Ear Records/Dirty Water Records. “Acid Books” was the first single off the album, and it’s a post-punk burner brimming with frenzied energy. With an anxious pulse of bass leading the way, and punctuated by terse outbursts of guitar, on the track The Callas pack a tightly wound sonic punch that will have you pumping your fist in triumph even as the song drags you under in its’ downward spiral.
9. FRIGS “Talking Pictures“
The Toronto-based post-punk band FRIGS released their debut LP Basic Behavior (Arts & Crafts) this past February, and it was one of our Favorite Albums of 2018. In addition, you’ll find the band’s visuals for the single “Talking Pictures” included on our list of Favorite Music Videos of 2018. I guess, then, it should be no surprise to see that track also on our list of favorite songs from the year. The band explains that “Talking Pictures” eschews narrative in place of creating a “sense of disillusionment.” On the cut, vocalist Bria Salmena walks a tightwire of brooding tension as the band fights to hold a palpable sense of dissonance at bay. Adopting a variety of vocal strategies, Salmena alternates between cool delivery, rough-hewn recitation, and melodic intonation, before pushing her voice to its rawest last nerve.
8. Eartheater “C.L.I.T.”
Alexandra Drewchin‘s Eartheater claimed honors this year with her LP IRISIRI (PAN) landing on our Favorite Albums of 2018 list. In addition, the unforgettable visuals for the record’s bonus track “Claustra” ended up on our Favorite Music Videos of 2018. “C.L.I.T.” was the first single off IRISIRI, and at the time Drewchin explained that the eye-catching acronym stands for “Curiosity Liberates Infinite Truth.” The track features her soaring vocal range, off-kilter drumming, and a gestural production style that is just as likely to disrupt as it is to invite you in for a closer listen.
7. Drahla “Twelve Divisions of the Day“
Drahla is a post-punk trio hailing from Leeds, and this year they followed up on excellent 2017 EP/7″ releases like “Third Article” (Blank Ad), “Faux Text” (Too Pure), and “Fictional Decision” (A Turntable Friend) with the tightly wired and propulsive single, “Twelve Divisions of the Day” (Captured Tracks). While the group’s arty visual treatment for the song landed it on our Favorite Videos of 2018 list, the track’s galloping intensity and cryptic social critique harkened back to UK punk from the late 70’s–even as it pointed straight ahead towards a new generation of critical musical inquiry.
6. Helena Hauff “Qualm/No Qualm“
This year Helena Hauff followed up her excellent 2015 Discreet Desires (Werk Discs, Ninja Tune) LP with the minimalist, hardware-driven long-player, Qualm (Ninja Tune). The effort finds her “trying to create something powerful without using too many instruments and layers,” and the success of this strategy lands her LP on our Favorite Albums of 2018 list. Our initial listen in on the record included the double single “Qualm/No Qualm“–back-to-back tracks form the album. While both cuts share a plangent melody, the original is an instrumental of swirling ambiance with its partner opting for an electro-driven rhythm section. Like two sides of the same coin, “Qualm”‘s introspective and hazy moodiness is balanced by “No Qualm”‘s kinetic extroversion.
5. Loma “Dark Oscillations“
Loma, the trio that includes Shearwater’s Jonathan Meiburg and Cross Records’ Emily Cross and Dan Duszynski, released their stunning self-titled debut via Sub Pop this year. Combining restless sonic creativity with a clear-eyed sense for what makes an arresting pop song, the album included a number of devastating singles like “Dark Oscillations“. The band’s ability to create hair-raising atmosphere is on full display here as they use pulsating bass, skittering percussion, and textured field recordings to create a spell-binding mood. Meanwhile, singer Emily Cross delivers a smoldering performance that includes navel-gazing intensity with her gifts for dramatic melodic exposition.
4. Screature “Hit The Void“
Sacramento’s Screature combines doom-leaning metal urges with gothy post-punk on their 2018 LP Old Hand, New Wave (Ethel Scull Records). While we first got word of the record last November with the powerful single/video for “Hit The Void,” the cut still stands as one of our favorites of the year. From its initial smoldering embers of moaning feedback and drone, the band ignites a powerful mix of combustible sonics. Miranda Vera‘s drums sound huge and loaded with reverb they ring out into the domed sky as Chris Orr punctuates the proceedings with heavy metal blasts of smoldering iron. With the stage set, vocalist Liz Mahoney emerges from the darkness, and Gorgon-like she helms this powerful cut with a bellowing voice full of dread and terror. “I hold your gaze/Till you bow down” she howls, as her riveting voice turns you to stone.
3. Djrum “Sex“
This past August the electronic musician Felix Manuel returned under his Djrum moniker to release the Portrait With Firewood LP on R&S Records. The album found Manuel leaving behind his sample-based technique for a return to his childhood instrument of piano, and the result was one of our Favorite Albums of 2018. On the record’s standout cut “Sex,” Djrum combines piano and analog synthesizer with interlaced patterns of kick drum, snare, and hi-hat to craft one of the best tracks–techno, or otherwise–that we heard all year!
2. E “Negative Work“
E, the band featuring Thalia Zedek (Come, Uzi, Live Skull), Jason Sanford (Neptune), and Gavin McCarthy (Karate) followed up their self-titled 2016 Thrill Jockey debut with one of the strongest rock records of the year. Combining restless musicality with the kind of brooding introspection that yields difficult answers, Negative Work (Thrill Jockey) is an album of hard won wisdom. While the album contains a number of standouts like “Pennies,” “The Projectionist,” and “A House Inside,” nothing sums up staring into the Existential Void quite like the beautifully dark track, “Negative Work.”
1. Daughters “Satan In the Wait“
The Rhode Island-based noise rock outfit Daughters returned this year with their first album since the band’s self-titled 2010 effort on Hydra Head. You Won’t Get What You Want (Ipecac Recordings) is uncompromisingly brutal, and it is the kind of record that needs to be endured as much as enjoyed. This past July, Daughters announced their signing to Ipecac and news of their impending album came with the towering single, “Satan In the Wait.” Capable of sucking the air out of a room in a hurry, the track alternates between treading molten quicksand and scaling soaring heights, while vocalist Alexis Marshall delivers a harrowing account of a man with a face “not even a mother can love.”
Stream all 20 tracks via our Spotify playlist:
