mangosquash

When I was a youth, I would get to shows hours early to get a great spot. As a father of 2, I put my children to bed and attempt to arrive to a show in time to see the last 2 songs of an opener’s set. Shows with two openers… keep me up too late, and I generally get a little cranky about them.

BUT. Momma, who was the 2nd opener at Snail Mail was incredible, and a demonstration for why my attitude towards openers is bad/wrong. Momma was great, and their album Household Name is also great.

9. 2nd Grade – Easy Listening

This band has been bouncing around my Spotify infinity playlists for a bit (song: Velodrome) but this is the first album I’ve given much time to. Great power pop fun, a la vintage Fountains of Wayne.

8. Chloe Kimes – Chloe Kimes

I was lucky to spend the month of July with my family in Michigan this year. For the 2nd year in a row, one of our favorite parts of the trip was following Chloe Kimes from brewery to distillery to state park. Chloe is from Michigan but lives & works as a musician in Nashville for most of the year. But each summer she comes up to Michigan for a bit.

We stumbled across her performing at Stormcloud Brewing in 2021, and saw her two more times in the coming weeks. We were thrilled that our times in Michigan were overlapping again in 2022 and this time we saw her 4 times! She put out her debut full-length album this year, and it’s great. The songs all contain wonderful songs & stories. Here’s a picture of her with the Becker Family

7. Deer Scout – Woodpecker

This begins a block of 3 albums with pink/purple album art by artists that I know nothing about. This is the whisperiest, bed-roomiest album on the list. Tender & nice & beautiful.

6. Annie Blackman – All of It

Another Spotify Release Radar stumble-upon. Based on the play count, I’d guess that “Glitch” was the song that got me hooked, but it’s a strong release from start to finish. Also, she writes a fun newsletter.

5. Lilito – Happy Horse Lamp

I love this album. It’s fun & quirky and filled with joy. I tried to do some googling, and didn’t learn much, but the lead singer’s dad is in Taking Back Sunday, and that’s cool. Listen to the first song, Waning, and I think you’ll know if it’s your jam or not.

4. MJ Lenderman – Boat Songs

The first song of this album is about how Michael Jordan was badly hungover (rather than having the flu, or food poisoning) during his famous “Game 6” NBA finals performance.

“It wasn’t a pizza & it wasn’t the flu.
Yeah, I love drinking too.”

I’m not into NBA lore enough (at all) to know if this story holds any water, but it makes for a great song. There are lots of great stories & great songs on this album.

3. Plains – I Walked With You A Ways

When Katie Crutchfield (Waxahatchee) does a music project, I pay attention. Her 2020 release St. Cloud made my list, and when I heard her voice on my Release Radar I thought “What’s this?” She teamed up with Jess Williamson (Someone I am not currently familiar with) and recorded a country album… and I love it! A lot of things on this list came out in the first half of the year, and this one came out more recently and has really been eating up the last month or so.

2. MUNA – MUNA

I didn’t know much about MUNA before Silk Chiffon, and TBH I still haven’t spent a lot of time digging into their back catalog. So there’s some room to grow on my end. But I saw them live this year, and what an incredible experience. Would recommend 100% for anyone who likes having fun.

This is the danciest album on the list and maybe the only one that makes substantial use of drum machines?

1. Big Thief – Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You

Big album name, big album length (20 tracks, 80 minutes) not a single wasted second. This is a dynamic album with ups & downs, fasts & slows, gorgeous haunting lyrics. The 3rd most popular song on the album (my current favorite), Simulation Swarm… is the 17th track! This one dominated my listening this year, with I think 4/5 of my Spotify Wrapped songs being from it. One (Certainty) even made it into the coveted “Sing this to my daughters at bedtime” rotation.

So, that’s the list. I’ve got a mix of some of my favorite tracks from these albums as well as 16 other albums that didn’t make the list, so take a listen.

Also, here were the albums that almost made this list:

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Tags: Music, Reviews

Top 10 Albums 2021

December 29, 2021

Another year of working mostly from home means another year of a 40-hour-a-week music consumption habit uninhibited by the considerations of others. I listened to lots of things this year! Spotify says 82,030 minutes which comes out to over 26 hours a week. Over 50 new albums. Neat. When it all came down to it there were maybe 20 that I would have liked to give a spot on this list. But while Inflation is impacting many parts of the economy, this list remains at 0% y/y growth in length… we’re sticking to a top 10.

Some stats:

Newcomers to the list: 8/10
Debut Releases: 2/10
Non Male Artists: 7/10

This year’s top 3 is not as strong as the Top 3 in 2020, but it does have my 3 favorite genres represented: Indie Rock/Pop, Rap & Boygenius. The writing about these albums may be lacking this year, even compared to my previous poor efforts. That said, let’s dive in:

10. Claud – Super Monster

The full-length debut from indie-pop artist Claud! The first full-length release on Phoebe Bridgers’ record label Saddest Factory! This came out in February and really stuck with me throughout the year as something I kept coming back to. It doesn’t sound at all like Phoebe Bridgers, except for being kind of sad.

9. Olivia Rodrigo – SOUR

I hadn’t heard of Olivia Rodrigo until this album came out and my twitter timeline was full of jokes about it making millennials feel old. When I saw these jokes, I was expecting music I didn’t understand the appeal of bc I’m old & out of touch (see: Billie Eilish) BUT instead it was just some cool songs about the perils of being a teenager. This isn’t immediately relatable to my current life experience, but it is very good!

There’s a diverse range of genres & song-writing styles, but Rodrigo pulls it all together. It’s good. Listen to it.

8. Snail Mail – Valentine

3 artists into our Top 10, 22 year old Lindsey Jordan of Snail Mail is the oldest artist to appear so far (But the youngest of the top 8, I think). Her sophomore album is as strong or better than her 2018 debut… which was also my 8th favorite album of that year.

Valentine has a much broader sound without giving up the intimacy of Lush.

7. Adult Mom – Driver

I guess this album came out in March but I didn’t get into it until later in the year. Ended up being one of my favorites. Enjoyable storytelling, hooks, etc.

6. Japanese Breakfast – Jubilee

I’ve listened to a lot of Japanese Breakfast albums but this is the first one that’s really stuck with me. It’s fun, triumphant, expansive indie pop.

5. Islands – Islomania

Making their 4th appearance on this list since since 2006, Islands is Back with their first album in 5 years! Islomania is the least complicated, most purely fun release ever from the band I think. Their whole catalog is enjoyable but this is perhaps in contention for my 2nd favorite release of theirs.

Fun, energetic, catchy, straight-foward pop. Great stuff.

4. Cassandra Jenkins – An overview on Phenomenal Nature

This is traditionally not my thing, and I don’t know why it caught me so strongly. It’s only 7 tracks long. The most listened to track on Spotify is mostly a spoken-word type thing. It has some smooth jazz vibes.

BUT it’s… phenomenal! When I was typing that first paragraph, I was like “maybe I should drop this further down the list” but then I listened to the first few seconds of every track, and they are all great.

3. Lucy Dacus – Home Video

Lucy Dacus’s Home Video marks the last member of the supergroup Boygenius to release an album since that group’s impeccable 2018 EP. Before the Boygenius EP came out, Lucy was the only member of the group I was particularly familiar with as her earlier-in-2018 sophomore album Historian was my 3rd favorite album of that year.

Home Video draws on Dacus’s crystal clear recollections from earlier in her life. Stories of Vacation Bible School camp, Friends’ subpar boyfriends & fathers, complicated relationships with boys & girls. Each one told with the detail of clarity like it happened yesterday, but with the perspective of someone with distance.

While I still slightly prefer Historian, this is a very enjoyable followup.

2. Tyler the Creator – CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST

Remember rap in the late aughts? Tyler the Creator remembers. Rappers at the height of their game rapping on other people’s beats with DJs confusingly shouting thing during tracks. It was the best of times, it was the most obnoxious of times.

CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST is Tyler’s homage to this style & time, and he brings the mixtape king, DJ Drama along for the ride. This is from start to finish the most traditional & accessible “rap” album. But it still has the bombastic & creative beats that Tyler’s known for.

This is easily my favorite Tyler album ever and it’s one of my favorite rap releases in recent memory.

1. Kiwi Jr. – Cooler Returns

I enjoyed Kiwi Jr.’s 2020 Debut “Football Money” a good bit, but I don’t think it was really in contention for my top 10 last year. I don’t know what made this album different but it was in heavy rotation from January 22 when it came out!

The lyrics are biting, the hooks are big, the guitars are jangly. I really enjoy the whole vibe of the thing.

It was also one of my 4 year old Julia’s favorites. When we’re riding in the car together, it’s about 50/50 on who gets to pick the tunes. She generally gravitates towards Frozen & Moana soundtracks. But one day in the car she said “Dad, can we listen to Kiwi Jr.?” and I’m not going to lie, this made me feel great.

So, here we are. Julia and I’s favorite album of the year.

Get Your Mix!

If you want a little taste of everything here + 20 or so songs from my other favorite releases of the year, you can grab the mix here:

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Tags: Reviews

Top 10 Albums 2020

December 28, 2020

From 2011 – March of 2020, I’ve worked 3 jobs, but they’ve all had this in common: A small team of 2-4 people sitting in an open office environment, working on computers all day. Due to a combination of my own obnoxiousness and others’ apathy, I normally end up determining what music everyone listens to all day. This is great (for me, at least) but it also comes with some responsibility to make sure people aren’t miserable. So, I listen to a lot things that everyone that I work with, who is generally within 10 years of my age one way or the other, find tolerable. For me this means a lot of 2000s era rap & indie-ish rock. Kanye West, Outkast, Girl Talk, The Strokes, The White Stripes, etc. And then I also listen to new things coming out that I think other people might be able to tolerate, to mixed results.

But what if I had the majority of the year to pick music just for me, without feeling the need to moderate my selections to please others? Thanks to a flexible job & a global pandemic, 2020 is the year we find out! If I want to listen to the same mopey album on repeat for 8 hours in a row, there’s no one to stop me. I know, because I did that a lot.

What a great year to be stuck at home picking your own music. 7 artists on this year’s list are new to my top 10 (2006-Present). This was an incredibly tough year to whittle down to 10. One of my favorite artists (The Mountain Goats) released two great albums this year, and neither made my Top 10. Another one of my my favorite artists (Sufjan Stevens) released two albums this year that I couldn’t get into, and it didn’t even bum me out.

You can get a general feel for what I was listening to on my Mix that features songs from 20-ish of my favorite releases this year. But let’s just move into the Top 10 (playlist link, but the albums are in no particular order):

10. Long Neck – World’s Strongest Dog

Don’t know who this is or how they came into my life. Maybe it was a Spotify Release Radar. Maybe it was an artist I follow on Twitter. But, they have a cool name, and a great sound. 10 songs, 29 minutes. Short, catchy good rock songs.

9. Christian Lee Hutson – Beginners

I know exactly how I got into Christian Lee Hutson. He’s apart of the Phoebe Bridgers Expanded Universe, which is where I spend a lot of time these days. He was involved in some way w/ both of Bridgers’ side-projects Boygenius & Better Oblivion Community Center, and also did work on her 2020 release Punisher. Bridgers produced this album.

Anyway, this album is noticeable on this list because it’s the only one with a guy who sings & plays guitar. Quiet songs about relationships & stuff. Kind of got some Carrie & Lowell vibes, but I don’t think it’s about his parents or Jesus. There’s also a real banger called “Get the Old Band Back Together”

8. Beach Bunny – Honeymoon

California pop rock, via a Chicago band. Short songs (7/9 less than 3 minutes), short album, big hooks. Fun summer music for everyone. This band has released a lot of great EPs but this is their full length debut.

7. Waxahatchee – Saint Cloud

A lot of people I know LOVED this album, and I just think it’s great. Waxahatchee has been around & critically acclaimed for awhile, and has been appearing frequently on Spotify’s infinite playlists for years, but this is the first album I was able to get into. Great voice, melodies, guitars, etc.

6. HAIM – Women in Music Part III

Of the ~6 people who read this list every year, I’m on a group chat w/ two of them who love HAIM (Hi, Joel & Collin) but for some reason I hadn’t found a way to really connect with their first two albums (Sorry, everyone). This one really got me though, from the first listen. Bops from the first track to the last. (Aside: Albums that release, at launch with only one version that includes “Bonus Tracks” are confusing/annoying to me, because I don’t actually know where this album ends, but the bonus tracks are also bops, so I will allow it.)

5. Frances Quinlan – Likewise

Frances Quinlan released two worthwhile projects this year: This one, her first (On Spotify at least) titular release and “Freshman Year” a re-release of her first album using the “Hop Along” name that would bring her to indie darling status. Hop Along’s “Bark Your Head Off, Dog” was my favorite album of 2018 and remains in heavy rotation as one of 2 CDs in my car.

Likewise is a much sparser project than Bark Your Head Off, Dog, which means it highlights her voice & songwriting, both of which are delightful. The first track, Piltdown Man, is an exemplary example of Quinlan’s strengths as a songwriter. A simple childhood memory, vivid & relatable, perhaps framing a larger issue, perhaps not. Other favorites of mine are “Went to LA” (the last minute, that voice, my goodness) and the closer “Carry the Zero” a great take on a Built to Spill classic.

4. Liza Anne – Bad Vacation

My top 3 albums on this list are pretty widely regarded as some of the best of the year (#6, #1, #4 according to MetaCritic) but this one which almost cracked the top 3 really flew under the radar. Another mystery on how they showed up on my radar, but it was probably a recommendation someone in the Phoebe Bridgers Expanded Universe, as three of them (Phoebe, Lucy & Christian) follow her on Twitter. A catchy upbeat album about depression, substance abuse, etc. My jam! Big Saint Vincent-esque guitars at times.

3. Run the Jewels – RTJ4

Miller Mike & El-P are back, and they aren’t disappointing because they are heroes & masters of their craft. This isn’t my favorite Run the Jewels album (RTJ2) but, it probably takes the #2 spot. Best beat: Oh La La. Best lyrics, maybe song of the year: Walking in Snow.

2. Fiona Apple – Fetch the Bolt Cutters

In April, a couple weeks after this album came out, if you had told me it wouldn’t be my favorite album of the year, I would have said you were crazy. Perhaps too much has already been said about the nature of this art made by someone who had more or less locked themselves in their home for years, coming out as we were slowly realizing we’d be more or less locked in our homes for a year. This album has an incredible energy to it that I think will prove to be timeless and came out at the time it was most needed.

1. Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher

So, what could be better than that? Phoebe Fucking Bridgers, who has had a prolific and nearly perfect three year run, with 4 releases with 3 different groups: 2 solo albums, 1 perfect supergroup EP (Boygenius) and a full-length with one of her childhood idols, Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes with Better Oblivion Community Center. Punisher (the song) is about a different one of her childhood idols, Elliot Smith, who I have never gotten into (sorry!).

Her debut album, Stranger in the Alps might have been my favorite album of 2017… but I didn’t listen to it until 2018, so it didn’t make my list. Punisher is bigger and better in every way. Bridgers musical palette expands wildly here, and her lyricism grows with it. So many beautiful songs about so many different kinds of sadness. She also is really funny & self-aware, in her music and especially on Twitter.

Stuff I really liked that didn’t make the cut:

Ohmme – Fantasize Your Ghost
Sad13 – Haunted Painting
Bright Eyes – Down in the Weeds Where the World Once Was
The Mountain Goats – Songs for Pierre Chauvin
The Mountain Goats – Getting Into Knives
The Magnetic Fields – Quickies
Wolf Parade – Thin Mind

Cool Re-issues & Live Albums & EPs & Other Stuff:

Rilo Kiley – Rilo Kiley
Hop Along, Queen Anslies – Freshman Year
The Mountain Goats – Jordan Lake Sessions
Belle & Sebastian – What to Look For In Summer
Phoebe Bridgers – Copycat Killer EP
Nick Lutsko – Songs On The Computer

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Top 10 Albums 2019

December 27, 2019

Happy 10 Year Anniversary to my top 10 list being hosted here at mangosquash.com. It’s been a journey. Maybe I’ll write a thing about my decade of musical consumption but for now it’s all I can do to get this top 10 list out the door for the 5 people who read it, and also for myself.

Last year’s list was very strong in the top 5, many/all of which would make my top 25 releases of the decade probably. This year’s list is much less strong in the top 5. I don’t think any of them would make a decade top 25, but it was very difficult for me to cut the list down to 10.

According to my poorly kept “2019 Albums I’ve Listened To” playlist, I listened to over 40 new releases this year. Trends in things listened to:

Still lots of women
more punk-leaning rock than in the recent past
less rap
A couple big disappointments from reliable top 10 appearers (New Pornographers, Chance the Rapper).
My most anticipated release of the year was not quite everything I was hoping it would be, but it still ended up I think still narrowly being my favorite release of the year.

But let’s take it from 10 and work our way down:

10. The Mountain Goats – In League with Dragons

This album came with its own podcast, and both were enjoyable. In fact, if it were not for the podcast, I probably would have ignored this album even more than I did. Thank you, John Darnielle, for your work. Come to St. Louis more so the Becker Family doesn’t have to plan our family vacations around Mountain Goats concerts.

9. Pup – Morbid Stuff

I don’t know much about this band that apparently has been making music for awhile. I started listening to them because I bought tickets to go see the Illuminati Hotties open for them at Delmar Hall. And then I got really into it. Maybe the hardest thing to happen to this list in ever, or at least since the last Japandroids album came out.

8. Oso Oso – basking in the glow

Like Pup, Oso Oso scratches a lot of nostalgic rock itches. This one is more early Weezer/Ozma vibes.

7. Jenny Lewis – On The Line

“I wanna listen to Jenny Lewis” is something my 2-year old says a lot. I try to talk to her about what we’re listening to in the car or in the home, and I don’t know if the name “Jenny Lewis” stuck in her head, or if she has a genuine preference for her, but I’m proud of her none the less.

This isn’t my favorite Jenny Lewis solo project (#TeamVoyager) but it’s got a lot of great tracks on it and I like it more every time I listen. Go see this lady in concert. Her voice will destroy you.

6. Big Thief – Two Hands

Sometime in 2018 Spotify started playing Big Thief’s “Masterpiece” really heavily in all my playlists. And I loved it. What an amazing song. I kept trying to get into Big Thief albums and generally coming up short. Fortunately they released two albums this year! I liked the first one a lot, but Two Hands really hit hard for me.

So here it is. This is Big Thief’s 4th album in as many years, which is pretty wild.

5. Better Oblivion Community Center – Better Oblivion Community Center

Phoebe Bridgers was robbed from a top 5 appearance on my 2018 top 10 list when I found out her brilliant debut album Stranger in the Alps cam out in 2017. Tough break. But here she in 2019 with longtime favorite Conor Oberst with a strong collaborative effort.

If you like Conor Oberst, and you like Phoebe Bridgers, you’ll probably like this. I love both, and while this is neither of their best work, it feels like it was made just for me… so, thanks!

4. Bon Iver, i,i

Bon Iver’s prior release, 22, A Million hit #6 on my 2016 list, but I think that was a bit generous. 3 years later, I don’t think I ever really got that deeply into it. i,i is profoundly difficult to type but otherwise better in every way. It does a good job combining the more interesting sonic ideas in 22, A Million with the more conventional songwriting of his first two albums.

3. The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience – The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience

Baseball is my favorite sport. The Lonely Island are my favorite rap comedy group. Mark McGuire defined my baseball fandom in my childhood. A Lemonade-style concept album/movie by the Lonely Island about Mark McGuire & Jose Canseco’s steroid-fueled 1989 season with the Oakland Athletics is more than I could have ever asked for.

The concept delivers in every imaginable way, both visually and as a stand-alone album. All of these jokes feel like they are written just for me. I also have learned a lot about the earlier parts of Mark McGuire’s career, which I hadn’t previously delved into. Everything from here below was a legitimate contender for #1

2. Rosie Tucker – Never Not Never Not Never Not

Heartfelt jams, clever lyrics, chill vibes, great guitars. Rosie Tucker’s debut hit me hard when it came out early in 2019 and it’s stuck with me the rest of the year through. It’s warm and welcoming and delightful.

1. Vampire Weekend – Father of the Bride

Here’s a Spotify playlist with 1 song from each of my top 10 entries.

Just some things that happened in the Vampire Weekend Universe between 2013’s Modern Vampires of the City and 2019’s Father of the Bride: Rostam Batmanglij left the band, Bassist Chris Baio released 2 solo albums, lead singer Ezra Koenig started hosting a show on Beats 1 and released 2 seasons of an Anime TV show called Neo Yokio on Netflix. Also he had a kid with Rashida Jones. And during most of these events, the Vampire Weekend album was perpetually almost done.

Modern Vampires of the City remains my favorite Vampire Weekend album by a long shot, and Father of the Bride may be my least favorite. But the album reflects the time & the diverse interests pursued in that time. It’s the most varied and least cohesive album of their catalog, but still holds together alright. Lead single, Harmony Hall is one of the most joyous songs this joyous band has ever released. It was also great to see them live in St. Louis while the Blues were winning the Stanley Cup. That was a joyous evening.

Thanks for reading. Maybe I’ll be back with a decade retrospective or something.

In the meantime, here’s my two 2019 Spotify Playlists:

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Top 10 Albums 2018

December 27, 2018

I don’t know what happened (OK, I have some guesses: parenthood, losing control of the music played while I work 100% of the time, trying to please a group of 3 people with my workday music selections when I do have them), but I didn’t listen a ton of new stuff this year. But I did listen to some GREAT stuff. Four of the releases on this list would probably have topped my list in 2017.

Another thing is that my list is pretty much full of women. Eight releases of the 10 on this list are fronted by one or multiple women. The previous high over the last 13 years was 3.5 (.5 is for artists like The New Pornographers that split their lead singer duties between men and women).

I hesitate to mention this, because as many women who are on this list have pointed out “women who make music” is not a genre of music, nor is it the most notable thing about their music. But, it is a statistic I’ve been keeping track of for four years now, and it is a fact that for me, women made the vast majority of my favorite music in 2018.

There are a couple other notable things about this list. There’s an EP on it for the first time. I put it in the middle of the list, because I might rank it #2 or #3 in terms of quality but this is a list for full length albums and I didn’t feel comfortable with that. So there it is as #5.

Another thing is that there’s no rap music on this list for the first time since 2011. A few albums (Pusha T, Cardi B, Lil W) almost made the cut, but here we are. Also I considered including Chance’s 6(?) singles as an entry, because they are incredible, but they weren’t all released at the same time and were never presented as a single collection, so I opted out.

Here’s all of my top 10s since 2006 in a spreadsheet with some charts and stuff

And, here’s a list.

10. CHVRCHES – Love is Dead

Is this the worst of CHVRCHES 3 albums? It certainly is. Is it still pretty good? Yeah. There are some good tracks on here. This is the most electronic/dancy this list gets.

9. Moonface – This One’s For The Dancer & This One’s For Fhe Dancer’s Bouquet

I have stated on numerous occasions that Spencer Krug is my favorite musician doing work. I saw him TWICE this year, both times with the band Wolf Parade (the first and second times I’ve seen them in my 12 years of being a fan).

This CD came out after those tours. It is too much. It is very long, and there are artistic choices made that make it fairly difficult to digest. But there are gems, and there is a lot of marimba which is just a gorgeous sounding instrument.

8. Snail Mail – Lush

Got most of our legacy acts out of the way all the way in the lower spots of the list. Including this one, 6/8 of the remaining spots on this list are female fronted acts that I had never heard of before this year. Neat.

This album feels like a lazy summer day where it’s a little too hot to do anything. The songs, even the uptempo ones like standout track “Pristine” kind of melt over you. There’s also a song called heat wave that really sounds like a heat wave makes you feel.

I just learned while writing the paragraph above this one that Snail Mail (Lindsey Johnson) is 19! She was born in 1999. That means we’re only a year or two away from someone born in the 2000s making their debut on this list.

7. Natalie Prass – The Future And The Past

Natalie Prass, releaser of my 2nd favorite album of 2015 is back with a completely different amazing sound. While 2015’s self titled debut had a breathy Joanna-Newsom-ness about it, 2018’s The Future and the Past is filled with funky anthems & protest songs for 2018.

Apparently she had a whole album recorded and then the 2016 election happened and she said “Nah, I’m not feeling this” and started over. So here are some jams. Jams for women, jams for not giving up, jams for love. Track 2, Short Court Style is one of my favorite jams of the year.

6. The Beths – Future Me Hates Me

There is only 1 person named Beth in this band, as far as I know, and according to her Twitter handles she goes by Liz. Also, according to their Wikipedia page they are from New Zealand, which may be a geographical first for this list? That doesn’t sound true but I can’t think of any counterexamples and I’m not going to look it up at this time.

This album is full of punchy one liners delivered with beautiful clarity by Liz/Beth and her mail band members. Great harmonies, with still an approachable rawness that makes you want to sing along. Who doesn’t want to yell “I will go out tonight, I’m gonna drink the whole town dry”?

5. boygenius – boygenius

This is the first EP I think I’ve ever included in the history of this list! BoyGenius is a 3 woman supergroup consisting of Lucy Dacus, Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker (Listed in ascending order of popularity and loosely descending order of how much I’ve enjoyed their independent output so far to-date, though my lack of appreciation for Julien Baker I think is just due to me not spending enough time with her!)

This 21 minute EP packs in an incredible showcase of all three musicians unique talents. The way their distinct voices harmonize is a true joy. First track, Bite the Hand is a great example of that. Second track, Me & My Dog which features Phoebe Bridgers on vocals, is probably my favorite song of the year.

Finally, I just want to say that this show was the most moving musical experience I had in 2018. Can’t wait to hear more from all 3 boygeniuses, both separately and if we’re lucky, together!

4. Illuminati Hotties – Kiss Yr Frenemies

I didn’t know this band existed, and then I saw them open for Diet Cig at Off Broadway this year and I was impressed at the show and impressed with the album which is still in my CD player in my car. I change this disc only a couple times a year.

Good solid rock album. Lot of fuzzy guitars, dramatic changes in dynamics, songs about being young and sleeping on your friends couches and trying to figure out what the fuck is going on.

3. Lucy Dacus – Historian

Night Shift, the opening track on this sublime album, has to be in contention for one of the best breakup songs of all time? It’s a big six and a half minute epic, a showcase for Dacus’s musical and vocal range.

The rest of the album is almost as good. The lyrics throughout paint vivid portraits of people in various states of broken relationship. But it’s not just the lyrics! The music is full and gorgeous and there are some moments like the penultimate Pillar of Truth where things really get loud and fun.

2. Car Seat Headrest – Twin Fantasy (Face to Face)

Is this album, a song-for-song re-recording of Car Seat Headrest’s 2011 album of the same name even eligible for a 2018 best of list? I don’t know what the consensus is on this, but it’s eligible for mine!

Car Seat Headrest achieved a great growth in acclaim and recognition with their 2016 album Teens of Denial. That’s the album that put them on my radar. So mad props to their label, Matador, for letting them follow that up with such an unconventional idea.

I love this album just as much as I loved Teens of Denial and now that I’ve spent a lot of time with both the 2011 (Now referred to as “Twin Fantasy (Mirror to Mirror)” and 2018 Face to Face version of Twin Fantasy, I think it was an excellent call to revisit the songs.

The roughness of the 2011 release has its own charms (and mentions of Dan Bejar) but the 2018 version is better in pretty much every way. It is not polished to the point of losing the character of the first recording, but rather the increased quality and production are used to highlight what made these songs great.

1. Hop Along – Bark Your Head Off, Dog