FEATURE:
I Can’t Get No (Satisfaction)
IN THIS PHOTO: The Lemon Twigs/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images
The Most Underrated and Overlooked Albums of 2018
__________
IT is important to clarify...
IN THIS PHOTO: Goat Girl/PHOTO CREDIT: Phil Smithies for DIY
that by ‘underrated’ and ‘overlooked’; I am referring to the end-of-year lists that have their top-tens and top-twenties. I have seen a lot of polls that have the same albums riding high but, in many cases, I feel there are some notable omissions that need to be redressed. Maybe it is my personal taste but there have been a lot of stellar albums released this year – many have not gained the same sort of celebration and attention as others. It is hard to celebrate all the really good albums and critics are likely to have very similar opinions. It is good to have a look at the polls and see what is making the cut. Make sure you check out the recommended albums but here, as an alternative top-twelve (why not?!), are albums that either didn’t feature in all the year’s-best polls or missed out entirely. These records warrant more focus and exposure so, without further ado, here are twelve albums that helped make 2018...
IN THIS PHOTO: Superorgamism/PHOTO CREDIT: Max Hirschberger for Interview
A wonderful time for music.
ALL ALBUM COVERS: Getty Images
______________
Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Sex & Food
Release Date: 6th April, 2018
Label: Jagjaguwar
Producer: Ruban Nielson
Review:
“Unknown Mortal Orchestra majordomo Ruban Nielson took a global approach to his band’s fourth full-length, Sex & Food: He recorded the album in Seoul, Hanoi, Reykjavik, Mexico City, Auckland, and Portland. Accordingly, the music is a colorful pastiche of eras and approaches, including gooey psychedelic rock with grimy guitars (“Major League Chemicals”), gleaming Steely Dan homages (the falsetto-driven “Hunnybee”), zoned-out stoner-pop sprawls (“Ministry Of Alienation”), and blurry blues-rock (“American Guilt”). Although Sex & Food’s heavy-lidded moments can occasionally meander too far afield into somnolence, the record’s sharp observations about life, politics, and society are focused. On the poignant “If You’re Going To Break Yourself,” which seems to address the painful experience of losing a friend group after getting clean, Nielson sings wearily about missing “the secret loser language” and says, “You blocked my number just because I stayed alive” – The AV Club
Download/Stream: Hunnybee; Everyone Acts Crazy Nowadays; How Many Zeros
Stream here: https://open.spotify.com/album/7c2Xfq7aQKzs0KdSI3K7Rc?si=Paa9N-N2RgeGsn_5mqFdrg
Standout Track: American Guilt
Kali Uchis – Isolation
Release Date: 6th April, 2018
Labels: Rinse/Virgin/Universal
Producers: Various
Review:
“Tyler and Bootsy add sympathetic humor to the drifting BadBadNotGood groove "After the Storm," while Gorillaz' Damon Albarn lays out some festive Suicide synth pop for "In My Dreams." Elsewhere, numerous West Coast associates -- Sounwave, Larrance Dopson, DJ Dahi, Om'Mas Keith, and Thundercat among them -- add to the set's prevailing dazed, dreamlike feel. Uchisis never obscured by the productions, coolly expressive while casually threading clever imagery from song to song. Her writing is most vivid in one of the delightfully bent retro-soul numbers, "Feel Like a Fool": "My heart went through a shredder the day I learned about your baby mothers/'Cause you're a grown-ass man, now you should know better/But I still run all my errands in your sweater." For all its entertaining art-pop feats, Isolation is just as remarkable for serious moments like "Killer," in which Uchis reaches a high degree of anguish that only real-life experience can arouse” – AllMusic
Download/Stream: Miami; Just a Stranger; Tyrant
Stream here: https://open.spotify.com/album/4EPQtdq6vvwxuYeQTrwDVY?si=D2MfHNwUTtS-_CClYX55Rw
Standout Track: After the Storm
Robyn – Honey
Release Date: 26th October, 2018
Labels: Konichiwa/Interscope
Producers: Joseph Mount; Mr. Tophat; Adam Bainbridge; Robyn; Klas Åhlund
Review:
“Honey’s centrepiece may be Because It’s in the Music, a track that feels like the inverse image of Dancing on My Own, in which music offers no sense of escape or release: “I’m right back in that moment and it makes me want to cry,” she sings. The melody has the potential to feel anthemic, but it doesn’t, because the sound is weirdly fractured. The signifiers of euphoria – disco strings, tingle-inducing electronic shimmers, a lovely synth motif not a million miles removed from Ryuichi Sakamoto’s Forbidden Colours – never quite connect with each other: they’re scattered throughout the track and feel oddly lonely” – The Guardian
Download/Stream: Missing U; Baby Forgive Me; Between the Lines
Stream here: https://open.spotify.com/album/0CQ68SLY0B5e6L1rn8jfkc?si=ZiGp5eXxRA-ZGhjwg8mlbg
Standout Track: Honey
The Lemon Twigs – Go to School
Release Date: 24th August, 2018
Label: 4AD
Review:
“Go to School is an artistic statement on a grand scale, and it cements their reputation as world-class songwriters. It’s a once-in-a-generation epic that, unfortunately, The Lemon Twigs will never be able to do again, owing to the purity of concept and execution here.
A legend once said that if you gave an infinite number of chimpanzees an infinite number of typewriters, they’d eventually reproduce the works of Shakespeare. If you gave an infinite number of chimpanzees an infinite number of guitars, would they eventually write Go to School? Probably not” – The Line of Best Fit
Download/Stream: Rock Dreams; Small Victories; Go to School
Stream here: https://open.spotify.com/album/5c42OLUNIZldeqhSSOER8d?si=_vnlDDPJQzymh7qDjTqxYQ
Standout Track: Never in My Arms, Always in My Heart
Kamasi Washington – Heaven & Earth
Release Date: 22nd June, 2018
Label: Young Turks
Producer: Kamasi Washington
Review:
“The album hits its full, glorious stride during its last several tracks. “The Psalmnist,” a taut, unassailable post-bop theme by trombonist Ryan Porter, sparks one of the sharpest Washington solos on the album, before a virtuoso battle royal between drummers Tony Austin and Ronald Bruner, Jr. The next tune, “Show Us the Way,” opens with a modal crush of piano chords that recalls “Change of the Guard,” from The Epic. It culminates, after a rafters-raising Washington solo, in a refrain by the choir: “Dear Lord,” they sing, invoking John Coltrane, “Show us the way.”
The power of that moment, which carries through the final track, “Will You Sing,” lies in a vibrational parallel to the black church, and all the momentous weight that comes with it. Washington is flagrant in aligning his music with a tradition of transcendent struggle. The feeling he’s chasing is the feeling of someone who’s been to the mountaintop and come back with an urgent story to tell” – Pitchfork
Download/Stream: Testify; The Psalmist; Will You Sing
Stream here: https://open.spotify.com/album/5mG7tl4EW2xrTy5rI8BgGL?si=PU6gdsCITTCmgghLjVf_5g
Standout Track: Fists of Fury
Soccer Mommy – Clean
Release Date: 3rd March, 2018
Label: Fat Possum Records
Producer: Gabe Wax
Review:
“And the plaintive ‘Scorpio Rising’ - taking its name from either astronomy, or a 1969 film about gay Nazi bikers (we’re guessing it’s the former, tbh) - starts out hushed but grows and grows by stealth; a fearsome shadow extinguishing the streetlights. And ‘Cool’ meanwhile is privy to her wittiest writing to date as she warns somebody off a girl named Mary in cutting verses: “Mary has a heart of coal / She’ll break you down and eat you whole / I saw her do it after school / She’s an animal.”
In typical Soccer Mommy fashion, there’s little flashy footwork to be found here; only expertly-shaped understated songs that give more with every listen. Stepping beyond the groundwork of her debut collection, and sounding all the more confident for it, Sophie Allison shoots, and she scores” – DIY
Download/Stream: Still Clean; Last Girl; Scorpion Rising
Stream here: https://open.spotify.com/album/36NLDBi2kX7XRHnyLzLOS8?si=F9CafaEhQNquus3Nk220mQ
Standout Track: Your Dog
Goat Girl – Goat Girl
Release Date: 6th April, 2018
Label: Rough Trade Records
Review:
“If you’re thinking, though, that the naturally bucolic nature of country music doesn’t quite fit in with the hustle and bustle of lights-out London, then you’d be very wrong indeed. Goat Girl’s gritty take makes their message even more potent. ‘Creep’ relays a tale that most can relate to; that of a public transport pervert who won’t let up or put his dick away. Pogues-worthy strings add an odd wistfulness to the sound of Clottie singing about how she’d like to smash the head in of a man who’s filming her on the train. We know how you feel, Clottie.
Things get murkier with ‘The Man’, which recalls fellow south London reprobates Fat White Family thanks to eager kick drum, hollered lyrics and their rowdy, everyone-in-the-back-room-of-the-pub-singing-along delivery. A cover of Bugsy Malone ballad ‘Tomorrow’ closes Goat Girl’s debut with a sultry torch-song feeling – proof that these guys are far from a one-trick pony. Or goat, for that matter” – NME
Download/Stream: Viper Fish; Cracker Drool; Lay Down
Stream here: https://open.spotify.com/album/3jDJ8KuleRVdhS2DJKFEW2?si=RdzI0Zt2SLmX8lCyKomARw
Standout Track: The Man
The Internet – Hive Mind
Release Date: 20th July, 2018
Label: Columbia Records
Producers: The Internet
Review:
“On “Look What You Started” Syd’s voice is simultaneously threatening and dismissive, singing: “You blame it on your problems but it’s no excuse/You can’t keep playing innocent – I know the truth.” “Bravo” misleads with its basic stomp beat on the intro before the bass kicks in on a different beat to the vocals. Alternatively, the infectious groove of the bass on “Burbank Funk” is tight as anything, as Lacy instructs the listener: “Listen to your heart/What’s it saying?”
And where Ego Death seemed led by Syd and Lacy, Hive Mind feels much more collaborative, put together in studios and homes the band rented around the world. It’s undoubtedly one of their best works: the band have a synergy that draws the listener in, allowing you to revel in their irresistible confidence, and hope they might invite you to join the party” – The Independent
Download/Stream: Come Together; Look What U Started; Beat Goes On
Stream here: https://open.spotify.com/album/27ThgFMUAx3MXLQ297DzWF?si=YhpQEJLVTTyaUGtWm_Aryw
Standout Track: Roll (Burbank Funk)
Tommy Genesis – Tommy Genesis
Release Date: 9th November, 2018
Label: Downtown
Producers: Various
Review:
“Genesis has clearly grown into her strengths, though, dialing in a murmuring flow perfectly suited to bass-heavy beats and a brash persona unafraid of boasts. Tommy Genesis is a fun, wisely brief ride. You can now imagine Genesis landing one well-placed feature on a big-ticket song and tipping over into the mainstream. More concerned with the here and now, that’s not what she seems to want. Her invitation on the breezy, poppy closer “Miami” renders that mission plainly: “I’m living my best life/Come inside” – Pitchfork
Download/Stream: Bad Boy; 100 Bad; Daddy
Stream here: https://open.spotify.com/album/2OuXxjcDzScqRIWvtR3j5a?si=3d7udzr8QNCLkq97yhIzqw
Standout Track: Tommy
Gengahr – Where Wildness Grows
Release Date: 9th March, 2018
Label: Gengahr
Review:
“The first half of Where Wildness Grows is packed with panoramic indie-psych rock toned to perfection. “Is This How You Love” showcases Gengahr’s trademark love for melody and distortion and is followed by another highlight in the shape of “I’ll Be Waiting”. The track evokes choppy early Maccabees-esque guitars, sealed with the unmistakable sound of frontman Felix Bushe’s vocals lamenting lost love: “Still in love with you, that’s alright I’ll be waiting / Nothing I won’t do’. This tenderness and honesty continues throughout, whether lyrically on “Blind Truth” or in the atmosphere of “Left in Space”. Artistic in every sense, each track adds a splodge of paint or a sweeping stroke to the blank Where Wildness Grows canvas.
Despite coming back refreshed, one thing is for certain; Gengahr haven’t lost the soluble quality of their sound, every intricacy has the ability to melt right in. Elegant and artful to its core, Where Wildness Grows is an impressive step forward from a band who seemingly have more to prove to themselves than anyone else” – The Line of Best Fit
Download/Stream: Before Sunrise; Where Wildness Grows; Left in Space
Stream here: https://open.spotify.com/album/4mJUfanUtn0ymiMLuFZyNV?si=XxxRdQDSQIalu1FH2duhoA
Standout Track: Carrion
Superorganism – Superorganism
Release Date: 2nd March, 2018
Label: Domino
Producers: Superorganism
Review:
“The band can do shiny pop ("It's All Good," which has a crazy slowed-down Tony Robbins sample), introspective dream pop ("Reflections on the Screen"), slowly strutting Beck-like hip-hop ("SPRORGNSM"), and melancholy ballads ("Nai's March"), all with equal aplomb. When they kick into second gear, they make modern pop that equals the best around. "Everybody Wants to Be Famous" is a rollicking takedown of D-list culture complete with ringing cash-register percussion and a melt-in-your-mouth sweet vocal by Orono; "Something for Your M.I.N.D." is warped pop gold with subaquatic bass, a naggingly catchy vocal sample, and Orono's second most off-kilter lyrics (after "The Prawn Song"). Despite the somewhat cluttered and freewheeling exterior, it's clear that Superorganism know exactly what they are doing at all times, slicing and dicing like master chefs, then reassembling the bits and bobs of pop ephemera into a concoction that has a sugary kick sweeter and fizzier than an ice-cold cola” – AllMusic
Download/Stream: Everybody Wants to Be Famous; Nobody Cares; The Prawn Song
Stream here: https://open.spotify.com/album/15TFB6uLZlb3gnCysRrLix?si=rXX-ZXp8QSOj3bIA0-c1fQ
Standout Track: Something for Your M.I.N.D.
Natalie Prass – The Future and the Past
Release Date: 1st June, 2018
Label: ATO Records
Review:
“If every song here is exceptionally well-written – the songs that address the Trump presidency do so pretty deftly, with only Sisters feeling close to rote tub-thumping – the lengthy Ship Go Down and Hot for the Mountain are the most exploratory, off-beam tracks Prass has written to date, slackening the usual verse-chorus structure. The former shifts from eeriness to a gently insistent defiance – “we can take you on,” it repeats, again and again – while the latter starts out jazzy, and slowly builds into a stunning, cathartic final two minutes, as Prass’s wordless vocal wail swims through a woozy, distorted groove that audibly bears the influence of tropicalia, the Brazilian take on psychedelia that’s another of Spacebomb’s touchstones. It’s magnificent, as is the rest of The Future and the Past. Proof that you can be a member of a loose musical collective and out on your own at the same time” – The Guardian
Download/Stream: Short Court Style; Lost; Far from You
Stream here: https://open.spotify.com/album/4eaB4Z7pCzLfvgvdbq2mVO?si=eseErzPyQEep0za2iHi3-g
Standout Track: Oh My