Top Music of 2018

I love keeping track of my music favorites at the end of another year. It’s fun to look back on previous years and see what I was interested in, and be reminded of music that I might not have listened to in a while. In any case, here’s this year’s list.

Favorite Albums

  • By far, my favorite (and most listened-to) album of the year was All Ashore by Punch Brothers. Elaine and I had the pleasure of seeing them in concert, and it was pretty unreal.

Image result for all ashore punch brothers

My favorite track is from the album is the title track:

  • Swimming by Mac Miller crept up on me in the last month or so. I love its funk/R&B/hip-hop vibe. As my brother likes to say, rest in paradise MM.

Image result for swimming mac miller

This NPR Tiny Desk of his was what got me started on him:

  • The Black Panther soundtrack (produced by Kendrick Lamar) was another favorite — particularly the pairing of “Bloody Water” with Anderson .Paak and “King’s Dead.” “Big Shot” was another great song off the album. I almost never like movie soundtracks, but this was a surprise.

Image result for Black Panther soundtrack

  • See You Around by I’m with Her was a big winner, especially “Overland”

Image result for see you around i'm with her

  • Another soundtrack: A Star is Born by Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga. Probably also my favorite movie of the year.

Image result for a star is born soundtrack

  • Good Thing by Leon Bridges, especially “Shy” and “Georgia to Texas.” I just picked this up on vinyl, and it sounds even better this way than it does anywhere else.

Image result for leon bridges good thing

Favorite Songs

One of the things I like to do is remember songs (not necessarily off of my favorite albums). My favorite songs of the year:

  • “This is America” by Childish Gambino
  • “It’s Strange” by Louis the Child ft. K. Flay
  • “Home” by Resonance
  • “New Light” by John Mayer
  • “The Man Who Has Everything” by Chance the Rapper. (Normally, I’d say the whole EP, but I wasn’t as impressed by the full effort. This song, however, captures the full Chance the Rapper slow-rap vibe that I love.)
  • This was also the year that my YouTube musical listening got even weirder — I’ve moved from chillstep/chillhop for focusing to something called “vaporwave” weird and retro-futuristic, but I dig it. Here’s a sample:

December 30, 2018 Add Comment

In Music

# # # # # # # # # # # #

Leave a Reply