Check out the Spotify playlist at the bottom for the Indiecator’s “Best of 2018” playlist
If there was one trend I’ll remember from this year, it’s that 2018 was when seemingly every band I liked in high school released an album. Death Cab for Cutie, The Decemberists, Franz Ferdinand, Interpol, Jack White, Razorlight, and the Strokes (now in the form of Julian Casablancas’ the Voidz and Albert Hammond Jr.’s solo work) were all on my mid-2000s big white iPod classic. Had Beck, Radiohead, and the Libertines released new albums this year, I’m sure my 2005 self would think 2018 was some kind of utopia (it’s ok).
The bad news for my high school self is that none of the artists mentioned above are on this list. Like 2015 and 2016, newer indie critical darlings dominate, in contrast to the wealth of well-established indie heavyweights on last year’s top albums countdown. I will admit that making this list was somewhat difficult, as few albums this year jumped out to me as exceptional. Without further ado…
10. Father John Misty – God’s Favorite Customer
Genre: Folk, Folk rock
Getting into Father John Misty (real name Josh Tillman) in 2016 was inconvenient timing-wise. I was too late for all the hype around his 2015 smash hit I Love You, Honeybear, but was right on time for last year’s Pure Comedy, an album I just could not get into. Tillman has regularly been known to assume the role of the snarky know-it-all who deigns to impart knowledge on us, a role that reached Mark Kozelek levels in Pure Comedy, but he turns his scrutiny inward this year on God’s Favorite Customer. Instead of telling us how the world works, Tillman reveals his own struggles with depression, including a breakdown where he isolated himself in a hotel room as detailed on tracks “Mr. Tillman” and “The Palace.” He’s also willing to engage in self-deprecation (“Dumb Enough to Try”), ask for help (“God’s Favorite Customer”), and most notably, admit how much he needs his wife (“Please Don’t Die,” “The Songwriter”). Musically, this humility manifests itself in the form of more concise, less meandering songwriting, with tracks like the folk-rocker “Date Night” and the Elton John-esque “Disappointing Diamonds are the Rarest of Them All” emerging as some of his best yet. There may be one too many piano ballads for some, but God’s Favorite Customer is a release that utilizes vulnerability and honesty to deliver one approachable and enjoyable album.
Standout Tracks: “Mr. Tillman” “Date Night” “Disappointing Diamonds are the Rarest of Them All”
9. Blood Orange – Negro Swan
Genre: R&B, Electronic
Back when last.fm had internet radio, Blood Orange (real name Dev Hynes) came up on the “chillwave” station, a tag which still persists on his artist page. It seemed odd, considering how his refined and vocal-driven music bears little resemblance to the haze of Washed Out or Toro Y Moi, but Hynes has never fit neatly into a single categorization. Case in point is his fourth album as Blood Orange, Negro Swan, which functions less like a collage with disparate elements and more like a mosaic with everything presenting as a whole. There are bits of funk on “Orlando” and “Out of Your League,” and hip-hop styles both old and new thanks to appearances by Puff Daddy on “Hope” and ASAP Rocky on “Chewing Gum.” You have flourishes of jazz in the flutes on the chilled out “Take Your Time,” and psychedelic guitar effects on “Nappy Wonder.” Sometimes these influences all hit you at once, like on the multifaceted (pun intended) “Jewelry.” If the album were to have one foundation though, it would be its sublime use of electronic instrumentation. Drum machines weave freely in and out throughout tracks, from giving a bounce to Hynes’s vocals on the excellent single “Saint” to providing a subtle backdrop for Georgia Anne Muldrow’s soulful vocals on “Runnin’.” Likewise, there’s enough 80s-inspired synths to make you understand why some might use the term “chillwave,” from the powerful chorus of “Charcoal Baby” to the downtempo “Dagenham Dream.” Everything flows together seamlessly, and even if you don’t love all 17 tracks, it’s nigh impossible to walk away from Negro Swan and not think Dev Hynes is exceptionally talented.
Standout Tracks: “Saint” “Charcoal Baby” “Dagenham Dream”
8. Of Montreal – White Is Relic/Irrealis Mood
Genre: Indie pop, dance, electronic
I consider myself an of Montreal connoisseur, since they’re my most-listened to band on last.fm and I’m probably one of the few people in the world who owns their complete discography (save for singles and remix albums, which I don’t do). Therefore, when of Montreal released their 15th(!) studio album White Is Relic/Irrealis Mood this year, I thought “it’s pretty good, not their best, not their worst” and moved on, much like I did with 2016’s Innocence Reaches. However, unlike Innocence Reaches, I kept coming back to White Is Relic/Irrealis Mood long after reviewing it. Making an album with only six longer tracks was a pretty high-stakes idea, but fortunately only one (“Writing the Circles/Orgone Tropics”) is remotely skippable and there’s minimal wasted space otherwise. The band’s mastermind/sole constant member Kevin Barnes set out to make an album inspired by the extended club mixes of the 80s, and with the beats on tracks like “Paranoiac Intervals/Body Dysmorphia” and “Plateau Phase/No Careerism No Corruption” he’s made his most danceable album yet. Lyrically, Barnes wanted to make a political album, a theme that only the thumping “Soft Music/Juno Portraits of the Jovian Sky” really touches, along with one discussing more mundane things, like love and how we all live in a simulation. Yes, this is an album that isn’t afraid to drop the line “I feel it is such a cruelty to be made self-aware of actualization inside of a simulation” right in the middle of a dance break. On the love front, you’re treated to both the jazzy and optimistic “Sophie Calle Private Game/Every Person Is a Pussy, Every Pussy is a Star!” and the cerebral breakdown of “If You Talk to Symbol/Hostility Voyeur.” If you’re an of Montreal fan like I am, or even if you’re just a fan of longer form electronica, this isn’t one to overlook. You can read more about White Is Relic/Irrealis Mood here.
Standout Tracks: “Paranoiac Intervals/Body Dysmorphia” “Plateau Phase/No Careerism No Corruption” “Sophie Calle Private Game/Every Person is a Pussy, Every Pussy is a Star!”
7. Beach House – 7
Genre: Dream pop
In general, Beach House doesn’t make bad albums. Seven albums in, and they have yet to release something that makes you think “wow, this sucks.” However, it is easier to think that all of their albums sound the same, since they all fit into that vague category of “dream pop.” I’ll admit that this thought crossed my mind during initial listens of 7, but becoming more acquainted with the album and comparing it to past Beach House made me recognize how much uncharted territory the duo subtly expands into with this release. The opener “Dark Spring” is surprisingly guitar-based and shoegaze, and you hear that same rock energy kick up in the second half of “Dive.” “Lemon Glow” is buoyed by a single repeated synthesizer note that bobs along, creating an uncharacteristically pop song, and “Woo” is similarly sunny for a Beach House track. On the hymn-like “L’inconnue” vocalist Victoria Legrand sings in her native French for the first time, while the marimba of “Black Car” sets a mysterious tone that I’ve deemed as a good “driving at night” song (not to reveal what color car I have or anything). Closing the album, “Last Ride” is the longest Beach House track to date (not counting hidden tracks), and builds upon a gentle piano melody to slowly build into a climactic finish. While some of 7 does bear strong resemblance to the Beach House of years past (“Drunk in LA,” “Lose Your Smile”), it largely brings plenty of new sounds to their repertoire.
Standout Tracks: “Dark Spring” “Lemon Glow” “Black Car”
6. MGMT – Little Dark Age
Genre: Electronic, psychedelic
During the highly entertaining and extremely bizzare video for “Me and Michael,” MGMT’s fans can be seen holding signs that say “MGMT are back” and a fake magazine cover reads “They surprised everybody! MGMT Returns!” This is an interesting meta-commentary on the state of the band. After becoming the indie pop kings of 2007-08, MGMT experienced quite the fall from grace when they decided to get really, really weird. Fortunately, Little Dark Age brings them back from this brink as their most accessible release since Oracular Spectacular. “Me and Michael” is shamelessly 80s-inspired synthpop, and the album’s title track (one of my top songs overall from this year) is best described as brilliant electro-goth. Outside of these singles, “She Works Out Too Much” and “One Thing Left to Try” are pop-oriented tracks that have little in common with the MGMT of Congratulations and their 2013 self-titled album. It’s not all throwbacks to their peak fame days either, as songs like the dub-inspired “Tslamp” and the chilled out “Days that Got Away” feel like entirely new turf for the group. They certainly haven’t abandoned their eccentric streak entirely, as evidenced by the unsettling “When You Die,” but Little Dark Age is definitely a good reason to get back into MGMT if you’ve fallen off the bandwagon. You can read more about Little Dark Age here.
Standout Tracks: “Little Dark Age” “Me and Michael” “Days That Got Away”
5. Arctic Monkeys – Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino
Genre: Soft rock, lounge
Arguably the most divisive album on this list, Arctic Monkeys’ sixth release was loved by some and hated by others, which is to be expected when one of the most successful indie rock acts out there suddenly decides to make lounge music. I’ll fully admit to thinking “alright, well maybe it will start getting good any second now” during my first listen of Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, and not appreciating it until I learned that it’s essentially a concept album about a luxury resort on the moon. For instance, you’ve probably heard the single “Four Out of Five” on the radio this year, but you may missed the lines about the moon crater Clavius being gentrified. The band’s frontman Alex Turner was the primary architect of this album’s sound and concept, and much of it centers around his role as various narrators. For example, on the stellar (no pun intended) opener “Star Treatment,” he introduces himself as a washed-up lounge singer on the moon, now fronting a casino residency band named “The Martini Police.” As the album progresses though, Turner moves away from the lunar concept towards a more general sci-fi commentary, with his Earth-based technological cynicism heard on “The World’s First Ever Monster Truck Front Flip” and “She Looks Like Fun.” You occasionally hear some sci-fi flair in the instrumentation (“American Sports,” “Science Fiction”), but otherwise this is Arctic Monkeys at their most subdued, and it’s musically closest to Turner’s side project the Last Shadow Puppets. Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino may be underwhelming live and disappointing for anyone who wanted to rock out to 2013’s AM again, but if you can stomach “David Bowie meets the Rat Pack on the moon,” then you might enjoy how the band really gives this musical left-turn and outlandish idea their full commitment. You can read more about Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino here.
Standout Tracks: “Star Treatment” “One Point Perspective” “Four Out of Five”
4. Kids See Ghosts – Kids See Ghosts
Genre: Hip-hop, experimental
As discussed in the top songs countdown, Kanye West was pretty busy this year, both in terms of making headlines and making music. During the “Wyoming Sessions” where he released a new album each week for five weeks, Kanye gave us two albums where he was the star: the solo effort ye and Kids See Ghosts, a collaboration with Kid Cudi. While ye had some strong points but ultimately came off as rushed, especially when compared to Kanye’s previous studio albums, Kids See Ghosts feels a lot more developed. This is saying something, considering it’s all of seven tracks and approximately 24 minutes long (the same as ye), but its varying influences, experimentation, and general psychedelic character make it compelling throughout. “Reborn” was an instant highlight, thanks to Cudi’s solemn and melodic vocals and Kanye’s bars, both of which focus on moving past their recent struggles over a lullaby-like backtrack. However, “4th Dimension” is a personal favorite, rapped over the 1936 swing song “What Will Santa Claus Say (When He Finds Everybody Swinging’)” by Louis Prima. Unconventional choices like this appear throughout, from sampling the drums of the novelty song “They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!” on “Fire” to the haunting sound effects on the title track. Kanye also makes some interesting noises on this album, from his imitation of a machine gun on “Feel the Love” to throwing out a “swoop!” on “Freeee (Ghost Town Pt. 2),” referencing his…unorthodox track “Lift Yourself.” The lyrics here are also top notch, like the closing track “Cudi Montage” that provides a tale of cyclical gang violence and revenge. For less than half an hour of your time, Kids See Ghosts will provide with you an experience you won’t soon forget.
Standout Tracks: “Fire” “4th Dimension” “Reborn”
3. Courtney Barnett – Tell Me How You Really Feel
Genre: Indie rock, hints of folk
When Courtney Barnett’s debut studio album Sometimes I Just Sit and Think and Sometimes I Just Sit was released in 2015, much of the commentary focused on her lyricism, with just about every critic using the adjectives “witty” and “deadpan” to summarize her style. This came at the expense of discussions on her songwriting aptitudes, because let’s be honest, decent riffs can’t hold a candle to quirky tales of elevator operators. Tell Me How You Really Feel ensures that Barnett’s rock cred will never be overlooked again, even if it’s not as immediately quotable. I would rank “Charity,” a heartfelt and fairly cut-and-dry rocker, as one of her top tracks overall, and “Need a Little Time” has her best guitarwork to date. “City Looks Pretty” opens like a Wilco song (specifically “Kamera”), but closes like a stadium rocker. There’s also a pleasantly surprising grunge tinge to some of the tracks, like the quick and furious “I’m Not Your Mother, I’m Not Your Bitch” and the impressive, Nirvana-esque album opener “Hopefulessness.” The lyrics are generally introspective (“Help Your Self”) and sincere (“Sunday Roast”), but the same neurotic Barnett is still present, as indicated by a track titled “Crippling Self Doubt and a General Lack of Self Confidence.” Tell Me How You Really Feel shows a fuller and clearer picture of Courtney Barnett than ever before, and it really solidifies her status as one of the most compelling singer-songwriters to follow. You can read more about Tell Me How You Really Feel here.
Standout Tracks: “Hopefulessness” “City Looks Pretty” “Charity”
2. Parquet Courts – Wide Awake!
Genre: Indie rock, punk
Even though they’ve released an impressive six albums in seven years, Parquet Courts have had to fight tirelessly to shake off perceptions formed during their early years: that they’re the new Pavement, a “slacker” band who makes lo-fi rock about being stoned. These haven’t been true for years now, but Wide Awake! should put them to rest entirely. For starters, Danger Mouse produced the album, the same man whose production resumé includes Adele, U2, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. This may sound like a commercial turn for the band, but aside from the funky title track, nothing on Wide Awake! is remotely pop-ish. “Total Football,” which skirts hardcore punk, is the most aggressive they’ve sounded, and the superb “Almost Had to Start a Fight/In and Out of Patience” is only a little less fierce. This highly eclectic album often moves away from modern rock sounds as well, exploring 60s psychedelia (“Mardi Gras Beads”), dub (“Before the Water Gets Too High”), and even honky tonk piano (“Tenderness”). Lyrically, it’s their most blatantly political album to date, with songs from the slam poetry of “Violence” to the stop-and-go of “Normalization” commenting on the current state of the world. At the end of the day though, the band still has enough of a sense of humor to include a song called “Freebird II” and lyrics like “wanted to be needed so I fed my cat” (“Extinction”). This might be the first Parquet Courts album I’d hesitate to describe as “lo-fi,” but it is their latest in a long line of successes, and proves that they’re master of their craft. You can read more about Wide Awake! here.
Standout Tracks: “Total Football” “Almost Had to Start a Fight/In and Out of Patience” “Normalization”
1. Car Seat Headrest – Twin Fantasy (Face to Face)
Genre: Garage rock, indie rock
To be frank, picking a number one album this year was really tough, and this album is mostly here because I couldn’t think of anything better. I honestly prefer 2016’s Teens of Denial to this album, which I think says something about how many good albums came out that year (and about the state of music in 2018). Some have even argued that Twin Fantasy (Face to Face) should be left off these rankings, because it’s not a wholly original release, and is instead a complete re-recording of Car Seat Headrest’s 2011 album Twin Fantasy (Mirror to Mirror). To those people I say: “there’s no fucking rules, dude.”
I don’t want to be too harsh on Twin Fantasy (Face to Face) though, because it is a fantastic album. Its three-part epic “Beach Life-in-Death,” wherein frontman Will Toledo tells us the ups and downs of love over the course of 12 minutes, would alone make this release top 10 material. Unlike the collection of observations and anecdotes that made up Teens of Denial, Twin Fantasy (Face to Face) is more personal, and the lyrics are addressed to the same ex-boyfriend. Or, as he states in the standout single “Nervous Young Inhumans:” “Most of the time that I use the word “you”/well, you know that I’m mostly singing about you.” Toledo recorded the original Twin Fantasy on a laptop in his dorm room in 2011, and it sounds accordingly lo-fi, so obviously this year’s rework has much cleaner production. However, here are some interesting stylistic changes on top of this, like making “Nervous Young Inhumans” synth-driven instead of guitar-based, and extending the already-long “Famous Prophets” from ten minutes to a whopping 16. There are some lyrical shifts too, like changing “give me Dan Bejar’s voice and John Entwistle’s stage presence” on “Cute Thing” to “give me Frank Ocean’s voice and James Brown’s stage presence,” reflecting his shift in musical idols. It’s still rooted in the same garage rock style that propelled Toledo to fame, but he and his current bandmates really expand what can be done within this subgenre. There’s plenty of quick tempo riffs (“Bodys”), slow builders (“Sober to Death”), and even some ballad-like tracks (“Twin Fantasy (Those Boys)”). I’ll admit the album drags a little toward the end, and its conceptual nature as a rock opera mean its sprawling tracks are best enjoyed together rather than individually. Regardless, Twin Fantasy (Face to Face) will make you realize why Car Seat Headrest have been repeatedly hailed as the latest and greatest titans of indie rock.
Standout Tracks: “Beach Life-in-Death” “Nervous Young Inhumans” “Bodys”
