If you read my Best Of 2018 list, you probably thought to yourself, “Well, that guy is probably in his late 30’s and listens to music produced by other guys in their late 30’s.” And you would be right. I admit that my choices for this year were quite safe, but also ended up being the records I returned to again and again. Maybe it was the familiarity with their respective 20+ year careers or maybe they can still ROCK even in middle age.
But, those established acts are far from all the music I enjoyed this year. Quite the opposite. A bunch of my favorite songs this year came from new or fairly new bands that put out a few incredible singles, but I felt their albums were not a consistently good listen. Some examples:
Middle Kids
These Australian kids put out one of my favorite songs of LAST year, in “Edge of Town” which appeared first on a 2017 EP and then in the 2018 debut full length. In that full length is the song, “Mistake,” which is a bare knuckles fist pump of a song. Their sound is not revolutionary, it is quintessential indie rock, but there’s something almost primal about the way lead singer Hannah Joy leaves all her emotions out on the floor for everyone to hear.
Snail Mail
Here’s where I contradict myself (already?) and say that Snail Mail aka Lindsey Jordan’s debut album is excellent. I’d heard the lead single, “Pristine” a LOT on satellite radio and I always enjoyed it but I didn’t take the leap to check out the album until I saw it recently pop up on a lot of year end list’s (#5 on Pitchfork’s top 50. Wow.). Again, Snail Mail’s sound is not reinventing the wheel but here it’s all about the personality, the vulnerability of her performance, the alternatively bitter and hopeful lyrics. For someone so young, she makes some audacious choices in her music (see second linked song here.)
Jealous of the Birds
Another female-driven indie rock band, Irish, trying their best to stand out in a sea of noise. They put out an EP in 2018 (and another one scheduled for early 2019) that is start to finish awesome. Mostly upbeat with a pop tint but also when they slow it down, like in “Trouble in Bohemia”, there’s a unique perspective in the writing I find myself drawn to. That laugh at 2:22 is so charming.
Christine And The Queens
Great story with this band: a pansexual French singer changed her name to Chris and sings under the name Christine And The Queens and named her most recent album Chris. The album itself is a little too electronic for my taste, but damn if the single isn’t Catchy As Fuck.
Extra credit fun: french version of the same song:
Which one do you like better?
Phosphorescent
Easily one of my favorite songs of the year, Phosphorescent’s second album is a mixed bag of styles but the lead single, the glorious “New Birth in New England” is huge in scope. It’s super catchy, relatable, and evokes a clear time in a person’s life, often a rarity in music. The slowdowned middle section may make it not truly mainstream-friendly, but it makes me love it even more.
Elad Haber 