Pitchfork's albums of 2018

Is the boygenius EP really an album?
Would this have been better as a top 10 list?
Quite a lot of records that disappointed me this year (including Cat Power who I adore, and the Robyn album has great moments but not sure it’s THAT good)

Continuing the discussion from Best Albums of The Year 2018 - Listageddon:

No. 50: SOB x RBE - Gangin

No. 49: Georgia Anne Muldrow - Overload

No. 48: Kamasi Washington - Heaven and Earth

No. 47: Skee Mask - Compro

No. 46: Blood Orange - Negro Swan

No. 45: Cat Power - Wanderer

No. 44: Camp Cope - How to Socialise & Make Friends

No. 43: Sleep - The Sciences

No. 42: Adrianne Lenker - abysskiss

No. 41: Ty Dolla $ign / Jeremih - MihTy

No. 40: Iceage - Beyondless

No. 39: The Internet - Hive Mind

No. 38: Kali Uchis - Isolation

No. 37: JPEGMAFIA - Veteran

No. 36: Rico Nasty - Nasty

No. 35: A.A.L (Against All Logic) - 2012-2017

No. 34: Neneh Cherry - Broken Politics

No. 33: Sheck Wes - MUDBOY

No. 32: Let’s Eat Grandma - I’m All Ears

No. 31: Arctic Monkeys - Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino

No. 30: Christine and the Queens - Chris

No. 29: boygenius - boygenius EP

No. 28: Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love

No. 27: Soccer Mommy - Clean

No. 26: Vince Staples - FM!

No. 25: Playboi Carti - Die Lit

No. 24: Julia Holter - Aviary

No. 23: Travis Scott - Astroworld

No. 22: U.S. Girls - In a Poem Unlimited

No. 21: The 1975 - A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships

No. 20: Beach House - 7

No. 19: Cardi B - Invasion of Privacy

No. 18: SOPHIE - OIL OF EVERY PEARL’s UN-INSIDES

No. 17: Pusha-T - Daytona

No. 16: Jon Hopkins - Singularity

No. 15: Noname - Room 25

No. 14: Amen Dunes - Freedom

No. 13: Tirzah - Devotion

No. 12: CupcakKe - Ephorize

No. 11: Ariana Grande - Sweetener

No. 10: Yves Tumor - Safe in the Hands of Love

No. 9: Tierra Whack - Whack World

No. 8: Low - Double Negative

No. 7: Earl Sweatshirt - Some Rap Songs

No. 6: Rosalía - El mal querer

No. 5: Snail Mail - Lush

No. 4: Robyn - Honey

No. 3: DJ Koze - Knock Knock

No. 2: Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour

No. 1: Mitski - Be the Cowboy

Given this album quite a few spins and be curious if I’m alone in feeling like this is the exact kind of record I would usually like (pretty similar to St Vincent’s debut in its swirly Carpenters kinda way) but - perhaps because of the production - it just doesn’t seem to click.

Kind of enjoy it but not a patch on puberty 2 imo, and nowhere near my AOTY

5 Likes

Only album in the top 10 I’ve heard, bought and love is Snail Mail.

That muagraves album is toss. So is mitski

Interesting that Ariana Grande is emerging as the
critically acclaimed big pop album of the year - all the reviews I saw sort of gave it a 50/50 review - half great/half not working. So has it grown on people or is it just the wish to have a big pop album and no other real option?

Snail Mail is one of those albums I would have bought in the past but don’t really properly engage me in my old age.

Need to listen to that pusha t again

And Musgraves*

Just going to say how great the Beach House album is at it seems to have got a bit lost down the lists. Amazing album in its own right but seriously impressive for a band with such a distinctive sound to develop that sound so effectively with album number 7.

3 Likes

The mitski album is rubbish compared to her last one.

Tierra Whack is one of the worst albums I’ve heard in ages

Need to give Yves Tumor more time

1 Like

i rinsed that cupcakke album. and i loved US Girls. and Let’s Eat Grandma was a real grower. Just got little interest in the rest I haven’t heard

Surprised Kamasi Washington is so low. Thought Noname would do better too.

Be the Cowboy is good but Puberty 2 was much better

1 Like

The albums that got BNM but, didn’t get in the album of the year list is interesting.

Musgraves is really bad. I like Mitski but probably not AOTY contender for me. I’m just really peeved off that everywhere seems to have forgotten that No Age and Jeff Rosenstock’s albums came out this year. Thought this could be one place they’d get a look in…

1 Like

I loved the last two Mitski albums but don’t like the new one at all.

Glad one of the “major” lists has Camp Cope amongst it. That’s a brilliant album. My top pick of the year.

Jeff Tweedy: WARM Album Review | Pitchfork 8.3
Tim Hecker: Konoyo Album Review | Pitchfork 8.5
Joey Purp: QUARTERTHING Album Review | Pitchfork 8.3
Beyoncé / JAY-Z: Everything Is Love Album Review | Pitchfork 8.2
Father John Misty: God’s Favorite Customer Album Review | Pitchfork 8.5
Saba: CARE FOR ME Album Review | Pitchfork 8.7
Everything's Fine | Pitchfork 8.4
Mount Eerie: Now Only Album Review | Pitchfork 8.5
https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/car-seat-headrest-twin-fantasy/ 8.6

I wasn’t impressed with Yves Tumor the first time I listened, but it has gotten better and better after about 7 listens.
If only someone would have invented a term for such an album.

Assuming twin fantasy only missed out because its a re-recording? Surely would’ve been top 20 at least otherwise

1 Like

Have really tried with that Mitski album. Don’t really dislike it but seem to instantly forget it after each listen.

2 Likes

For the sake of balance as there are a lot of negative opinions above : I love be the cowboy and think it’s better than puberty 2.thought it was very slight and didn’t leave much impact on first listen but it’s grown and grown on me ever since.

1 Like

Thought this was a shit list to be honest…No mention of Spiritualized’s And Nothing Hurt Ty Segall Freedom’s Goblin in the top 50 ??? Blasphemous. Kasami Washington way to low, top 5 for me. Seemed like a pretty weak year outside of the ambient electronic realm :smile:

Good shout out for A.A.L. (Against All Logic though)

If you’d told me last year that a Jay-Z & Beyonce joint album would have got BNM (even though apart from Summer and Apeshit I don’t really like) and then not feature on the end of year list I would have laughed.

Shocked Saba didn’t get on.