For the last several years I’ve picked my “Top Five Albums of the Year”, this year there was so much stuff I liked a lot and so little that I truly loved that I decided to introduce a bit of random to the rankings.
I’ve narrowed my favourite albums of 2018 down to a list of 40 albums which will I’ll judged tournament style to narrow the list down to this year’s final top five.
The matches for this tournament are randomly created, I did not setup the matches.
THE LIST
1 . Amanda Shires – To The Sunset
2 . Amy Shark – Love Monster
3 . Bob Moses – Battle Lines
4 . boygenius – boygenius EP
5 . Car Seat Headrest – Twin Fantasy
6 . Cat Power – Wanderer
7 . Colleen Green – Casey’s Tape / Harmontown Loops
8 . Confidence Man – Confident Music for Confident People
9 . Dream Wife – Dream Wife
10 . Gaz Coombes – World’s Strongest Man
11 . Habibi – Cardamom Garden
12 . Johnny Marr – Call The Comet
13 . Laura Jane Grace & the Devouring Mothers – Bought to Rot
14 . Low – Double Negative
15 . Restorations – LP5000
16 . Marie Davidson – Working Class Woman
17 . Mastersystem – Dance Music
18 . Matt Maltese – Bad Contestant
19 . Mewithoutyou – [untitled]
20 . Neko Case – Hell On
21 . Parquet Courts – Wide Awake!
22 . Public Access TV – Street Safari
23 . Robyn – Honey
24 . Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – Hope Downs
25 . Ross From Friends – Family Portrait
26 . Say Sue Me – When We Were Together
27 . Shame – Songs of Praise
28 . Sloan – Twelve
29 . Snail Mail – Lush
30 . Soccer Mommy – Clean
31 . The Beths – Future Hates Me
32 . The Magic Gang – The Magic Gang
33 . Thee Oh Sees – Smote Reverser
34 . Todd Glass – 12 Years of Voicemails from Todd Glass to Blake Wexler
35 . Twentytwo in Blue – Sunflower Bean
36 . U.S. Girls – In a Poem Unlimited
37 . Viagra Boys – Street Worms
38 . Vince Staples – FM!
39 . Wye Oak – The Louder I Call, the Faster It Runs
40 . Young Fathers – Cocoa Sugar
ROUND ONE
Match One
32 . The Magic Gang – The Magic Gang
vs
3 . Bob Moses – Battle Lines
Tough one first off, a bunch of British Millenial’s take on jangly guitar-pop in the spirit of Big Star and Teenage Fanclub vs Vancouver’s hometown heros and their dark dance-pop. This is tough, TMG is more my style but I love Bob Moses, it’s a close one but….
Winner: Bob Moses – Battle Lines
Match Two
21 . Parquet Courts – Wide Awake!
vs
9 . Dream Wife – Dream Wife
Uber-hip alt-pop against British all-girl punk….
Winner: Dream Wife – Dream Wife
Match Three
17 . Mastersystem – Dance Music
vs
34 . Todd Glass – 12 Years of Voicemails from Todd Glass to Blake Wexler
Mastersystem as a British band doing a very American sounding sort of garage rock, Todd Glass is one of my favourite comedians, his new album is literally just 12 years of collected voicemails left for him by one-time 16 year-old fan and eventual fellow standup comedian Blake Wexler, it’s a comedy album like no other. I love Todd’s album and the way it breaks new ground but Mastersystem gets me right in the heart.
Winner: Mastersystem – Dance Music
Match Four
13 . Laura Jane Grace & the Devouring Mothers – Bought to Rot
vs
6 . Cat Power – Wanderer
This one might ruffle some feathers, the new Cat Power got great reviews and LJG did not but for whatever reason Bought to Rot was the album I kept going back to.
Winner: 13 . Laura Jane Grace & the Devouring Mothers – Bought to Rot
Match Five
23 . Robyn – Honey
vs
30 . Soccer Mommy – Clean
I love Robyn, I love the new album, I am glad she’s back, I have tickets to see her…. but…. Soccer Mommy is something special, she might be her generation’s Liz Phair and I love her debut album.
Winner: 30 . Soccer Mommy – Clean
Match Six
27 . Shame – Songs of Praise
vs
24 . Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – Hope Downs
Songs of Praise is cool but I really, really love the new Rolling Blackouts CF album.
Winner: 24 . Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – Hope Downs
Match Seven
28 . Sloan – Twelve
vs
26 . Say Sue Me – When We Were Together
90’s tinged Korean surf-pop against Canada’s greatest power-pop band…. aye this is tough, both albums are solid, I’m giving the edge to Sloan just because of the awesome song about Gord Downie’s funeral. I linked a live version of Sloan’s new song above, the only live video of these 40 because that’s just how good Sloan are live.
Winner: 28 . Sloan – Twelve
Match Eight
25 . Ross From Friends – Family Portrait
vs
11 . Habibi – Cardamom Garden
Ross From Friends is certainly the coolest artist moniker this year but his soft dance tunes don’t hold a candle to the Persian influenced surf rock of Habibi.
Winner: 11 . Habibi – Cardamom Garden
Match Nine
37 . Viagra Boys – Street Worms
vs
16 . Marie Davidson – Working Class Woman
Hmmmm… Tongue-in-cheek Swedish Devo-ish cock rock vs artsy French spoken word dance music. I feel a little guilty here and I love both albums but I’m picking candy over carrots and going with VB.
Winner: 37 . Viagra Boys – Street Worms
Match Ten
8 . Confidence Man – Confident Music for Confident People
vs
12 . Johnny Marr – Call The Comet
Johnny Marr’s new solo record was way better than I had expected and I’ve listened to it a ton but… you can DANCE to Confidence Man’s Aussie interpretation of Scissor Sisters meets De Lite all night long.
Winner: 8 . Confidence Man – Confident Music for Confident People
Match Eleven
31 . The Beths – Future Hates Me
vs
4 . boygenius – boygenius EP
Damn, this one is easier than it should be, boygenius are amazing.
Winner: 4 . boygenius – boygenius
Match Twelve
39 . Wye Oak – The Louder I Call, the Faster It Runs
vs
29 . Snail Mail – Lush
I liked Lush well enough but Wye Oak give me chills, they do this modern Tangerine Dream rock stuff perfectly.
Winner: 39 . Wye Oak – The Louder I Call, the Faster It Runs
Match Thirteen
33 . Thee Oh Sees – Smote Reverser
vs
1 . Amanda Shires – To The Sunset
Thee Oh Sees have made a million albums of great garage punk, Smote Reverser is no different…. Amanda Shires is better.
Winner: 1 . Amanda Shires – To The Sunset
Match Fourteen
2 . Amy Shark – Love Monster
vs
22 . Public Access TV – Street Safari
Any album going up against Love Monster is going to have a rough go and the new Public Access TV was actually a bit of a disappointment.
Winner: 2 . Amy Shark – Love Monster
Match Fifteen
40 . Young Fathers – Cocoa Sugar
vs
35 . Twentytwo in Blue – Sunflower Bean
Cocoa Sugar is an album of insanely hip Scottish rockish hip-hop…. Sunflower Bean is Britrock power…. ack this one is close. The opening notes to “Twentytwo” put it over the top though.
Winner: 35 . Twentytwo in Blue – Sunflower Bean
Match Sixteen
36 . U.S. Girls – In a Poem Unlimited
vs
5 . Car Seat Headrest – Twin Fantasy
It’s hard to see good albums like the U.S. Girls debut fall away but I mean…. it’s Car Seat Headrest.
Winner: duh
Match Seventeen
7 . Colleen Green – Casey’s Tape / Harmontown Loops
vs
10 . Gaz Coombes – World’s Strongest Man
Here’s a shocker! I love love love Colleen Green… but this collection of B-sides and extras isn’t really that strong plus Gaz Coombes (ex-Supergrass singer) solo debut is surprisingly awesome and funky
Winner: 10 . Gaz Coombes – World’s Strongest Man
Match Eighteen
38 . Vince Staples – FM!
vs
20 . Neko Case – Hell On
Another big upset, to me at least. I know zero about rap and I LOVE Neko yet I am going with Vince on this one, I love his voice and love this album (Hell On is solid Neko too, for sure).
Winner: 38 . Vince Staples – FM!
Match Nineteen
18 . Matt Maltese – Bad Contestant
vs
19 . Mewithoutyou – untitled
I might regret this one but as much as I like the rock and roll of mewithoutyou I am going for the weird lounge-singing 21-year old schmaltz-core crooner Matt Maltese.
Winner: 18 . Matt Maltese – Bad Contestant
Match Twenty
14 . Low – Double Negative
vs
15 . Restorations – LP5000
Man, I have listened to more “rock” this year than any year in the past decade, tons of great, solid rock albums. I’m going with Restorations here even though the new Low is my favourite album in their long career.
Winner: 15 . Restorations – LP5000
Ok, so that takes 40 great albums down to 20 even greater albums, I’ll post part two soon and narrow these 20 down to 10.
Here you go! https://deanbergen.com/music/best-albums-of-2018/round-two/
A Bit Gone 