Thanks for all the vote; here’s the list - DIS’s top 50 albums of 2018. Low takes it by a country mile. Never in doubt, eh? Very close for 2nd place between Idles and Grandma. Then a gap to Young Fathers.
1 Low: Double Negative (160 points)
2 Let’s Eat Grandma - I’m All Ears (109 points)
3 Idles - Joy As An Act Of Resistance (107 points)
4 Young Fathers: Cocoa Sugar (79 points)
5 Parquet Courts - I’m Wide Awake (69 points)
6 Fucked Up - Dose Your Dreams (64 points)
7 Car Seat Headrest – Twin Fantasy (53 points)
8 Tropical Fuck Storm - A Laughing Death in Meatspace (36 points)
9 Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love (33 points)
10 U.S Girls - In A Poem Unlimited (32 points)
11 Janelle Monae
11 Ought
13 Drug Church - Cheer
14 Daughters- You Wont Get What U Want
15 Rolling Blackouts C.F. - Hope Downs
16 Skee Mask - Compro
17 Arctic Monkeys - Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino
18 Haiku Salut: There Is No Elsewhere
18 Hot Snakes - Jericho Sirens
20 Mitski - Be The Cowboy
21 Beach House - 7
21 Half Man Half Biscuit - No-One Cares About Your Creative Hub So Get Your Fuckin’ Hedge Cut
21 Jon Hopkins - Singularity
24 Haley Hendrickx - I Need To Start a Garden
25 Amen Dunes - Freedom
25 Daniel Avery - Song for Alpha
25 Jeff Rosenstock - POST-
25 Tirzah - Devotion
25 Yo La Tengo - There’s a Riot Going On
30 KATHRYN JOSEPH – FROM WHEN I WAKE THE WANT IS
30 Self Defence Family - Have You Considered Punk Music
32 Lykke Li - So Sad So Sexy
32 Snail Mail - Lush
32 Soccer Mommy – Clean
35 Courtney Barnett: Tell Me How You Really Feel
35 Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks – Sparkle Hard
35 The Beths - Future Me Hates Me
35 The Orielles - Silver Dollar Moment
39 Foxing - Nearer My God
39 Gwenno - Le Kov
39 Kali Uchis - Isolation
39 Mastersystem - Dance Music
39 Rival Consoles - Persona
39 Tomberlin - At Weddings
45 Anna Von Hausswolf - Dead Magic
45 BC Camplight - Deportation Blues
45 Kamasi Washington: Heaven & Earth
45 Sons of Kemet - Your Queen is a Reptile
45 Spiritualized - And Nothing Hurt
50 Hilary Woods- Colt
50 Iceage - beyondless
50 Kids See Ghosts - “Kids See Ghosts”
50 Typhoon - Offerings
There were 178 voters (a record in the 4 or 5 years I’ve been doing this) with 340 different albums mentioned. The list in the original post was allocating 5 points for a first place, 4 points for a second place etc. But the fun does not end there.
Here’s a list of how many times albums appeared in people’s lists. Once again Low dominate appearing in 46 lists (so 1 in 4 people had Low somewhere in their top 5). Idles and Grandma swap places, so more people like Idles a little bit (or maybe just more people heard Idles?). Other big movers in this list are Nils Frahm and Ice Age, who didn’t get into the top 50 of the original list but sneak into the top 25 of this one.
1 Low: Double Negative (46)
2 Idles - Joy As An Act Of Resistance (33)
3 Let’s Eat Grandma - I’m All Ears (28)
4 Young Fathers: Cocoa Sugar (24)
5 Parquet Courts - I’m Wide Awake (21)
6 Fucked Up - Dose Your Dreams (16)
6 Car Seat Headrest – Twin Fantasy (16)
8 Daughters- You Wont Get What U Want (11)
9 Tropical Fuck Storm - A Laughing Death in Meatspace (10)
9 Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love (10)
9 U.S Girls - In A Poem Unlimited (10)
9 Ought (10)
13 Janelle Monae
13 Arctic Monkeys - Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino
13 Haiku Salut: There Is No Elsewhere
13 Mitski - Be The Cowboy
17 Drug Church - Cheer
17 Skee Mask - Compro
17 Beach House - 7
17 Jon Hopkins - Singularity
17 KATHRYN JOSEPH – FROM WHEN I WAKE THE WANT IS
22 Rolling Blackouts C.F. - Hope Downs
22 Daniel Avery - Song for Alpha
22 Tirzah - Devotion
22 Self Defence Family - Have You Considered Punk Music
26 Hot Snakes - Jericho Sirens
26 Half Man Half Biscuit - No-One Cares About Your Creative Hub So Get Your Fuckin’ Hedge Cut
26 Haley Hendrickx - I Need To Start a Garden
26 Amen Dunes - Freedom
26 Yo La Tengo - There’s a Riot Going On
26 Kali Uchis - Isolation
26 Mastersystem - Dance Music
26 Tomberlin - At Weddings
26 Anna Von Hausswolf - Dead Magic
26 Iceage - beyondless
26 Nils Frahm - All Melody
Here’s the list for the purists – and one Low don’t win - average score. I’ve only included albums with 4 or more vote . Lykke Li takes this one (three out of four people had it as their favourite album). Possibly the most notable album in the list is Fucked Up – 16 people voted for it and over half had it as their fave.
1 Lykke Li - So Sad So Sexy (4.25)
2 Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks – Sparkle Hard (4.0)
2 Hot Snakes - Jericho Sirens (4.0)
2 Fucked Up - Dose Your Dreams (4.0)
3 Let’s Eat Grandma - I’m All Ears (3.89)
4 Rolling Blackouts C.F. - Hope Downs (3.86)
5 Jeff Rosenstock - POST- (3.8)
6 Foxing - Nearer My God (3.75)
6 Rival Consoles - Persona (3.75)
6 Drug Church - Cheer (3.75)
11 Half Man Half Biscuit - No-One Cares About Your Creative Hub So Get Your Fuckin’ Hedge Cut (3.67)
12 Tropical Fuck Storm - A Laughing Death in Meatspace (3.6)
13 Low: Double Negative (3.48)
14 Janelle Monae (3.44)
15 Snail Mail - Lush (3.4)
15 Soccer Mommy – Clean (3.4)
16 Haley Hendrickx - I Need To Start a Garden (3.33)
17 Car Seat Headrest – Twin Fantasy (3.31)
18 Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love (3.3)
19 Young Fathers: Cocoa Sugar (3.29)
20 Parquet Courts - I’m Wide Awake (3.29)
And finally I need to nominate this year’s Adebishi Shank award for the album liked most by a small number of people. No outstanding candidates for the full Shank so this year we have joint winners - Sarah Davachi’s ‘Let Night Come On Bells End the Day’ (favourite album for two people and no other votes) and Sons Of Kemet (two first places and one second place from its three votes).
Wonderful stuff. Mon the Beths. And the Orielles. Also the only list I’ve seen with the Half man half biscuit album in it, so instantly the best list I’ve seen. I think it’s finally convinced me to get that Idles record too. Cheers @Prob500!
Thanks again for doing this @Prob500! This is always a fascinating inside into the forum’s tastes.
Bit concerning that there is only one hip-hop/rap album in the whole thing, and it’s in joint last (unless you count Young Fathers which I don’t think most people do?) I know it’s not been a vintage year for big-name releases but still…
I agree with you that it’s a pity but I can kind of see how it happens to. I think there’s a lot more interest in a wider range of music on here than there used to be but for hip hop or jazz or ambient or whatever there needs to be a big name to unite fans behind to make a chance of denting the charts (I guess run the Jewels would be a good bet if they didn’t have a habit of releasing lps on Christmas eve etc)
I’ve seen lots of love on here for Noname, quelle Chris and Jean Grae, saba etc but it’s scattered and not unified. Fwiw I think the best hip hop lp of last year was Hermit and the Recluse but that didn’t seem to get much traction.
Surprised that pusha t didn’t get more love as it’s wall to wall bangers, but than maybe people had a hard time getting past that fucking cover.
Disappointing but not surprising. Most people on here wouldn’t listen to a hip hop album unless you put a gun to their head, unless it was by Kendrick Lamar or (up until a few years ago) Kanye West.
Their loss. This year they’ve missed out on (among many other things) the exquisite sadness and raw honesty of Saba and the fantastic creative joy of Tierra Whack.
@moderators - any chance I could have a subheading next to my username of 'Mon The Beths. First stage of my merch range, keyrings, t-shirts and face tattoos for babies to follow.
I completely missed that Hermit and the Recluse album and I love Ka - he certainly makes it hard to keep up. Great album though, thanks for highlighting it.
