1Low
Double Negative
2Bill Ryder-Jones
Yawn
3Mitski
Be The Cowboy
4Damien Jurado
The Horizon Just Laughed
5Tracey Thorn
Record
6Gwenno
Le Kov
7Wye Oak
The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs
8Neko Case
Hell-on
9Me’shell Ndegéocello
Ventriloquism
10The Decemberists
I’ll Be Your Girl
11Hookworms
Microshift
12Wussy
What Heaven Is Like
13Idles
Joy As An Act of Resistance
14Anna Calvi
Hunter
15Ought
Room Inside The World
16Richard Thompson
13 Rivers
17Kristin Hersh
Possible Dust Clouds
18Laura Veirs
The Lookout
19Courtney Barnett
Tell Me How You Really Feel
20Kali Uchis
Isolation
21Janelle Monae
Dirty Computer
22Belly
DOVE
23Superorganism
Superorganism
24Jim James
Uniform Distortion
25Cat Power
Wanderer
The Low album was the clear winner of the album of the year. It can be a really hard listen at times because it conveys this sense of overwhelmed anxiety so perfectly. I also felt that this is an album that needs to be listened to closely. It is too distracting, too dense to listen to casually. It’s greatest triumph is that despite these things being true it’s also one of the most beautiful, most healing records I’ve heard in a very long time.
Track of the year for me was Like A Fool by Superchunk. I’d never done a deep dive into their back catalogue before and this song was total revelation.
My favourite gig of 2018 was St. Vincent at the Playhouse. Mainly because she eventually got that audience up off their feet and dancing. Other notable gigs were Wye Oak at Summerhall (probably why their album eventually placed so high) and Alvvays in Manchester.