Doof's 2018 AOTY Top 100
With percentage scores, hold your excitement. I tried out approx 500 releases this year so consider these the top 20%. Enjoy 'em. |
1 | | Exit North Book of Romance and Dust
[95%]
This album topping this chart says big things about my opinion of the quality of 2018...not the most positive things really. Sure there's been some great stuff...but not so much in the 'world beater' category. You see this album could feasibly have been released at any time in the last ten years - it has nothing in common with anything out there in the musical landscape right now. This is like an old galleon dredged from the bottom of the ocean placed in the same showroom as all the 2018 release motor boats. I'm that one Pugwash dude who still wants to buy the decrepit galleon. At least Tom has saved 2018 the indignity of being the first year to not have a Doof rated 5/5 release, so great timing in a way... |
2 | | Ben Howard Noonday Dream
[92%]
So this could be considered the 'true' first choice offering of 2018, though again, tis a bit of an outlier. Howard seems to be channeling all his most abstract impulses and there's a faint whiff of 'World of Echo' here, combined with a certain natural/pastoral bent. This really feels like an artist following their own muse 100%, a little labour of love. Where to next for Ben? |
3 | | Paddy Hanna Frankly, I Mutate
[91%]
Oh Paddy, where the hell did you appear from? Thank the Lords of RYM I stumbled across this one - if any album has dominated my year it is 'Frankly I Mutate' - so if you want a Sunhouse Doof meme for 2018 then this is your boy I guess. A diverse set of tunes but it all hangs together thanks to Paddy perhaps having some innate feel for such things, the track flow really pops. One to watch if you still need that spelling out to you. |
4 | | Thom Yorke Suspiria
[88%]
...aaaaand a little dip in the scores. And a soundtrack. What the hell? Well yes, I warned you, 2018. Still, this is something special, nearly phenomenally special, but sadly only regular special. The lesser spotted Thommy Knocker spreading his solo wings and entering uncharted territory for him - some of the atmospheres he conjures here are creepy and/or intense as all hell. Bravo. |
5 | | Tropical Fuck Storm A Laughing Death in Meatspace
[87%]
I enjoyed the last Drones album but it was perhaps a bit mannered now you look back after listening to this...rabid thing? The guitars have been unleashed and the sense of mania and frenzy has ramped up exponentially. Similar to 'Feelin Kinda Free' the lyrics pull no punches but always throw some absurdist comical observations in there to make sure things don't get too 'loony with a 'The End is Nigh' sign round their neck'. |
6 | | Ex-Isles Luxury Mass
[87%]
This part should be where I give a big shout out to Anatelier for going above and beyond on Bandcamp in 2018 identifying absolutely stellar releases like this one way ahead of the curve. He has a very identifiable set of tastes and this album is the 100% pure undiluted stuff. Some stunning overlaid male vocals that put much of the competition (think John Grant, Wild Beasts) to shame, and overall this is one of the most meticulously crafted albums of the year. |
7 | | Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu Djarimirri: Child of the Rainbow
[86%]
What a swan song for Dr. (yes, doctor to you, pleb) Geoffrey, this is so powerful it can be overwhelming to try and process if you attempt a listen in the wrong moment. Get it right and this is something else, to the point for the longest while I did consider this was going to end up my AOTY 2018. The dude was a true...brace yourselves...Ab-original. Good night, you can stop throwing roses and money onto the stage. |
8 | | low Double Negative
[86%]
They've only gone and pulled a 'FLOTUS'. Again, it works! Except, not quite to a Doof AOTY degree as some of this gets a bit too ordinary. The peaks however are some of the best music of 2018 for me, no doubt. |
9 | | Eleanor Friedberger Rebound
[85%]
My female artist of the year believeitornot. I've talked about this, pimped it to everyone, reviewed it, ducked and dived, hustled...none of you like it. Nonetheless, here it lands. |
10 | | A.A.L. (Against All Logic) 2012-2017
[85%]
My AOTY decoy! Always unlikely to hold onto a 5/5 and so it proves...although this is still a high quality sideline from Jaar and for the first four tracks you can kid yourself into thinking 'could this be a classic?'. The truth is there is a little flab, but only a little. It's impressive how Jaar manages to put in his usual sonic ticks and personality into a very different format- basically yer more straightforward n' danceable soulful house. |
11 | | Damien Jurado The Horizon Just Laughed
[84%]
Soulful folk |
12 | | Bearcubs Ultraviolet
[84%]
'Shout-out-to-Potsy-glitchy-James Blake-y-r n' b-informed-electronic' is the genre |
13 | | Anna and Elizabeth The Invisible Comes to Us
[83%]
Trad Appalachian folk meets avant experimental flourishes |
14 | | Harmony Rockets Lachesis Clotho Atropos
[83%]
Psychedelic part improvised jam rock spectacular featuring everyone |
15 | | Yves Tumor Safe in the Hands of Love
[82%]
Ambient/noise electronic meets art pop |
16 | | Beach House 7
[82%]
Beach House make their 'rock album', it all sounds more widescreen/fuller |
17 | | Daughters You Won't Get What You Want
[81%]
Jesus Lizard-y noise rock given an apocalyptic experimental drench |
18 | | Anna von Hausswolff Dead Magic
[81%]
Church organ and witchy/banshee vocals to chill the bones |
19 | | Suss Ghost Box
[80%]
Ambient meets country is my new favourite sleepytimes genre |
20 | | Sons of Kemet Your Queen Is a Reptile
[80%]
Free wheeling nu-jazz with some conscious spoken word perfectly woven in |
21 | | David Byrne American Utopia
[80%]
The king of quirky intelligence returns |
22 | | The Necks Body
[80%]
Hour long 'more rocking' effort from the jazzy minimalists that feels more like three interlinked 'suites' |
23 | | Advance Base Animal Companionship
[79%]
Grandaddy-ish near-concept album about why dog lovers > cat lovers for now and ever more, peaceout |
24 | | Skee Mask Compro
[79%]
Old school referencing ambient techno bliss |
25 | | Astronauts, etc. Living In Symbol
[79%]
Kitsch low key pop nuggets |
26 | | Richard Swift The Hex
[79%]
Faintly psychedelic rambling pop experiments |
27 | | Oneohtrix Point Never Age Of
[79%]
'Logical continuation of 'Garden of Delete' but not as vital' typically strange sound collage plunder stuff, this time with half an eye on eighties pop |
28 | | Colter Wall Songs of the Plains
[78%]
A 'better voice than Johnny Cash' country artist, without quite the same charisma mind |
29 | | Will Oldham Songs of Love and Horror
[78%]
Rerecorded versions of Oldham classics allowing Will to showoff his 'as close to buttery smooth as I go' singing |
30 | | Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever Hope Downs
[78%]
Easy breezy jangly indie rock |
31 | | Idris Ackamoor and The Pyramids An Angel Fell
[78%}
Afro spiritual jazz |
32 | | Ed Schrader's Music Beat Riddles
[78%]
Spiky art rock/post-punk |
33 | | Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks Sparkle Hard
[78%]
'No longer lo fi' indie pop |
34 | | Cloud Nothings Last Building Burning
[77%]
Back to propulsive and noisy indie rock/a little post-hardcore |
35 | | Matt Maltese Bad Contestant
[77%]
Oh so very droll indie pop/chamber pop |
36 | | Parquet Courts Wide Awake
[77%]
'More Parquet Courts'-core |
37 | | Protus Opus Screaming Eagle
[77%]
Mixed genre sample based electronic |
38 | | Cult Of The Damned Part Deux: Brick Pelican Posse Crew Gang Syndicate
[77%]
UK Hip hop - also calling this hip hop of the year |
39 | | Elvis Costello Look Now
[77%]
Costello goes Bowie as dame/show tunes |
40 | | Avantdale Bowling Club Avantdale Bowling Club
[77%]
Jazzy conscious hip hop |
41 | | Leon Vynehall Nothing Is Still
[77%]
Downtempo/near ambient with experimental embellishments |
42 | | No Age Snares Like A Haircut
[77%]
Retro '90s referencing alt rock |
43 | | ******** The Drink
[77%]
Bedsit weird post-punk/experimental YouTube non-hit now officially released |
44 | | Evil Blizzard The Worst Show on Earth
[76%]
Clowncore |
45 | | gas Rausch
[76%]
Ambient that sounds a lot like Gas...oh, it's actually Gas |
46 | | Bill Ryder-Jones Yawn
[76%]
Red House Painters 'Rollercoaster' referencing shoegaze/slowcore/indie |
47 | | Rosehall The First Requisite Is Life
[76%]
Indie folk/field recording/experimental with a little Sufjan/Grizzly Bear in the mix |
48 | | Melody's Echo Chamber Bon Voyage
[76%]
Psychedelic 'anything goes' |
49 | | Toby Driver They Are the Shield
[76%]
Ever more grandiose neo classical flavoured pop |
50 | | Turnstile Time and Space
[76%]
Hardcore with a helluva big hard on for Nirvana |
51 | | Dogwood Tales Too Hard to Tell
[76%]
Understated alt country |
52 | | Viagra Boys Street Worms
[76%]
Rough around the gills post-punk from Sweden |
53 | | Jennifer Castle Angels of Death
[76%]
Old school '70s singer songwriter style folk |
54 | | Aidan Moffat and RM Hubbert Here Lies The Body
[75%]
Spoken word/folk |
55 | | Eleventeen Eston At the Water
[75%]
Hypnagogic electronic with added nostalgia |
56 | | Blawan Wet Will Always Dry
[75%]
Intense techno |
57 | | Voivod The Wake
[75%]
Metal album of the year/ 'progressive but actually not too extreme' thrash |
58 | | Richmond Fontaine Don’t Skip Out on Me
[75%]
Instrumental alt country soundtrack album based around the novel of the same name |
59 | | Nils Frahm All Melody
[75%]
Minimal ambient/piano |
60 | | Currensy, Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist Fetti
[74%]
Definitively the short (under 25 minutes) hip hop album of the year - eat your heart out Kanye West, ah hahahha |
61 | | Devon Welsh Dream Songs
[74%]
Spiritual sounding art pop/chamber pop |
62 | | John Prine The Tree Of Forgiveness
[74%]
'Wise old bird can still crease you up' deadpan country |
63 | | E Ruscha V Who Are You
[74%]
Balearic sunshine-y ambient wooze |
64 | | IDLES Joy as an Act of Resistance
[74%]
Clever arse and quite pop-y punk |
65 | | Mid-Air Thief Crumbling
[74%]
Folktronica exists in Korea |
66 | | Wasuremono Something Left Behind
[74%]
Experimental indie/dream pop |
67 | | Hookworms Microshift
[74%]
Psychdelic indie rock, a bit of kraut - 'it's all over now, whoops -metoo' core |
68 | | S. Carey Hundred Acres
[73%]
Pastoral easy listening indie folk fluff |
69 | | Jon Hopkins Singularity
[73%]
'Impressive but a bit overly cerebral' ambient/house |
70 | | Stick In The Wheel Follow Them True
[73%]
Trad UK folk with a bit of experimentation bubbling under |
71 | | Kurt Vile Bottle It In
[73%]
'Someone's found a nice niche to sell records haven't they just?'-core |
72 | | Amen Dunes Freedom
[73%]
Widescreen a bit like War on Drugs anthemic indie pop/rock |
73 | | Cowboy Junkies All That Reckoning
[73%]
Decent alt country/dream pop comeback |
74 | | George Clanton Slide
[73%]
He's on the slide. Literally. It's more polished than before. Somehow not quite as good. |
75 | | Beak (UK) >>>
[73%]
Experimental rock/kraut from Portishead chap now realising this might be his main gig |
76 | | Angelique Kidjo Remain in Light
[73%]
Uh uh, oh no she didn't. Oh yes she did. |
77 | | Iceage Beyondless
[72%]
'Art punk' they call it |
78 | | Mark Kozelek Mark Kozelek
[72%]
The most Mark Kozelek thing ever, 10 out of 10. |
79 | | The Voidz Virtue
[72%]
Mix tape aesthetic indie pop confection, sometimes annoying |
80 | | Hermit and the Recluse Orpheus vs. The Sirens
[72%]
Thinking man's hip hop according to the sticker on the cover |
81 | | Palberta Roach Goin' Down
[72%]
Art punk grrrrrls with a GSOH |
82 | | Frog Eyes Violet Psalms
[72%]
Indie experimental oddness |
83 | | Nickelus F Stuck
[72%]
Abstract n' bespectacled hip hop/trap |
84 | | The Field Infinite Moment
[72%]
This sounds like The Field...oh it's actually The Field |
85 | | Gavin Miller Meander Scars
[72%]
Waft away ultralight folk beam |
86 | | Mr. Fingers Cerebral Hemispheres
[72%]
'Party like it's a long time ago' house |
87 | | Hot Snakes Jericho Sirens
[72%]
Punk-y garage rawk looking rad surfin that tube bro - where my wig go? |
88 | | City Calm Down Echoes In Blue
[72%]
Goth-y 'we smell like Robert Smith's armpit crust' post-punk |
89 | | Denzel Curry TA13OO
[71%]
Probably has something to do with 'cloud' hip hop/trap |
90 | | ESCAPE-ISM The Lost Record
[71%]
DIY doofus electro-punk funnies |
91 | | Micah P. Hinson When I Shoot At You With Arrows...
[71%]
Croaky americana/folk |
92 | | Buffalo Tom Quiet and Peace
[71%]
Old school alt rock |
93 | | sleep The Sciences
[71%]
Sleeeeeeeeeeeeep.
Always sound the same. |
94 | | Cat Power Wanderer
[71%]
Not bad singer/songwriter amricana folk-y return from a one time great |
95 | | Tim Hecker Konoyo
[71%]
'Put this up here to look intelligent but I only listened to it once in full' - The Album |
96 | | Nathan Salsburg Third
[71%]
Lovely acoustic minimalism |
97 | | kraus Path
[70%]
Noisy DIY shoegaze |
98 | | Phosphorescent C'est La Vie
[70%]
Cheesy 'I'm sick of looking at these beards now' hipster patter americana/pop rock |
99 | | Robyn Honey
[69%]
Over half of this is a really impressive pop/dance crossover record. |
100 | | rhye Blood
[69%]
Not so hot second effort but I listened to it a lot anyway and it's still pretty nice so it gets the 100 spot. |
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