Albums of the Year 2018

[faymondo]

Just looking at my vinyl collection and these would be the top 5 played in no particular order.

"Shape The Future" Nightmares on wax

"Confident Music For Confident People" Confidence Man

"The Art Of Pretending To Swim" The Villagers

"Frequency" Tea Street Band

"Heaven before all hell breaks loose" Plan B

[SwedgeAntilles]

59 minutes ago, actionstations said:

I always do a top 100 of all time every year, and the only album that made it in from this year was Anna Calvi's 'Hunter'.

You do a top 100 of all time every year? I feel like I need to hear more on this

[Tuna]

2 hours ago, actionstations said:

7. Double Negative - Low (Glitch Pop / Ambient Pop)

hahaha what??

[actionstations]

1 hour ago, SwedgeAntilles said:

You do a top 100 of all time every year? I feel like I need to hear more on this

yep! completely obsessed.

My charting year goes like this:

October - Top 30 bands to see, Top 30 bands to see again, Top 30 favourite gigs.

November - Top 100 albums - me and my partner do this, then I combine all the album covers into a 2000-piece jigsaw puzzle, which is incredibly satisfying. Here's the one I did in 2017... the albums that feature on both our lists are bigger than others. 

December - 'Festive' 50 - top 50 songs of all time (this has become biannual as it's so difficult)

February-ish - Top 50 songs from the previous year.

It's a lot of work, but I love it, and it's great to know where I stand with the music I like

[actionstations]

8 minutes ago, Tuna said:

hahaha what??

haha yeah those genres may be a bit off, but it's definitely less slowcore-ish than their other stuff... genres came from RYM: https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/low/double-negative/

[Yokel Again]

pablo honey!

[kingcrawler]

1 hour ago, actionstations said:

yep! completely obsessed.

My charting year goes like this:

October - Top 30 bands to see, Top 30 bands to see again, Top 30 favourite gigs.

November - Top 100 albums - me and my partner do this, then I combine all the album covers into a 2000-piece jigsaw puzzle, which is incredibly satisfying. Here's the one I did in 2017... the albums that feature on both our lists are bigger than others. 

December - 'Festive' 50 - top 50 songs of all time (this has become biannual as it's so difficult)

February-ish - Top 50 songs from the previous year.

It's a lot of work, but I love it, and it's great to know where I stand with the music I like

I've seen a lot of lists on here before but I've never seen anything as audacious as turning one into a jigsaw. Doing a top 100 of all time every year is impressive enough let alone all the other lists.

[actionstations]

59 minutes ago, Yokel Again said:

pablo honey!

haha yeah... I appear to be on the wrong side of most Pablo Honey arguments, and for that I apologise.

[actionstations]

37 minutes ago, kingcrawler said:

I've seen a lot of lists on here before but I've never seen anything as audacious as turning one into a jigsaw. Doing a top 100 of all time every year is impressive enough let alone all the other lists.

cheers! believe me, if you can be bothered, doing a massive jigsaw collage of a load of things you already like is a good way to spend a few winter's evenings

[Yokel Again]

Clearly very similar taste to mine, which begs my question, where is the R.E.M?!

[Phoenix Girl]

Wow that is incredibly impressive @actionstations , hats off to your dedication.

[actionstations]

3 hours ago, Yokel Again said:

Clearly very similar taste to mine, which begs my question, where is the R.E.M?!

Haven't entered my REM phase yet... though I've just entered my 30s so it's probably not far off!

Grew up with occasional bits of Out Of Time in the background, and I recently gave Murmur and Automatic For The People a try but nothing really stuck. I'll come back to 'em, no doubt...

[CaledonianGonzo]

The absence of In The Aeroplane Over The Sea is causing a rupture in the space-time continuum.

[actionstations]

8 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

The absence of In The Aeroplane Over The Sea is causing a rupture in the space-time continuum.

oh god I'm sorry. I've tried it 5+ times, just can't get over how annoying I find his voice...

went to the Jeff Magnum ATP fest, incredible lineup... so I respect the guy, I just can't get on with that album.

[Brave Sir Robin]

That’s wonderful stuff @actionstations! Street Legal is a somewhat left field Bob choice, Senor & Dark Heat aside I’ve never really got on with it. And Pablo Honey - is this an eFests joke? Do you both have to list it at no.9??

[CaledonianGonzo]

Street-Legal is one of my leftfield favourite Bob albums. That and Planet Waves.

[actionstations]

40 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

Street-Legal is one of my leftfield favourite Bob albums. That and Planet Waves.

 

43 minutes ago, Brave Sir Robin said:

That’s wonderful stuff @actionstations! Street Legal is a somewhat left field Bob choice, Senor & Dark Heat aside I’ve never really got on with it. And Pablo Honey - is this an eFests joke? Do you both have to list it at no.9??

Huge fan of Street-Legal, it's a full on 8.5/10 for me. True Love Tends To Forget has ended up being my favourite Dylan track, it's just got such a good feeling. The whole album has a great vibe, and I chuck it on loads!

Radiohead-wise, I know I'm a bit backward, but:

1. The Bends

2. OK Computer

3. In Rainbows

4. Pablo Honey, lord help me

5. Kid A

6. A Moon-Shaped Pool

7. Hail To The Thief

8. Amnesiac

9. The King Of Limbs

Sorry to wander off topic... haha

[nikkic]

9 hours ago, actionstations said:

 

Huge fan of Street-Legal, it's a full on 8.5/10 for me. True Love Tends To Forget has ended up being my favourite Dylan track, it's just got such a good feeling. The whole album has a great vibe, and I chuck it on loads!

Radiohead-wise, I know I'm a bit backward, but:

1. The Bends

2. OK Computer

3. In Rainbows

4. Pablo Honey, lord help me

5. Kid A

6. A Moon-Shaped Pool

7. Hail To The Thief

8. Amnesiac

9. The King Of Limbs

Sorry to wander off topic... haha

There’s at least one glaring error here...

[SwedgeAntilles]

How much does the list change each year @actionstations? Are the majority of the 100 pretty locked in and it's just a case of putting anything particularly great in from that year? How often does you order change?

[Brave Sir Robin]

13 hours ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

Street-Legal is one of my leftfield favourite Bob albums. That and Planet Waves.

New Morning for me. And sometimes, even parts of Self Portrait.

13 hours ago, actionstations said:

True Love Tends To Forget has ended up being my favourite Dylan track, it's just got such a good feeling.

Yeah that's another good one. It's not a bad album at all, just surprised to see it on an all-time list that excludes, eg, Bringing It All Back Home and Desire.

May I applaud your inclusion of Architecture in Helsinki's debut, what a joyous record that is.

[actionstations]

6 hours ago, SwedgeAntilles said:

How much does the list change each year @actionstations? Are the majority of the 100 pretty locked in and it's just a case of putting anything particularly great in from that year? How often does you order change?

I've been doing it since 2010, so this is the 9th year. 44 albums have been in it since the beginning.

This year there were 6 new entries and 3 re-entries. New entries were Anna Calvi - Hunter, Father John Misty - Fear Fun, Leonard Cohen - You Want It Darker, Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile, Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell Live & Timbre Timber - Sincerely, Future Pollution.

They're not in order, I just start with all the songs I like in an iTunes playlist, and delete albums til there's 100 left. I don't look at the previous year's playlist while I'm doing this. I'd recommend it as an exercise if your music collection is organised/rated enough!

[mjsell]

This sounds like a full time job. I haven't even been able to put together a top 10 of 2018 yet - and not because I have too many to choose from, just because I'm lazy and haven't got round to it. 

[Stokesy10]

Just blasting this Greta Van Fleet... bloody hell! Like a new-age Zeppelin. Really enjoying them so far.

Haven't listened to as much "new music" in the past two years compared to what I used to. Need to get back on it. 

Got massively into The War On Drugs in the last few months, and really enjoyed what I've heard of Janelle Monae recently - Good old efests!

Edited January 9, 2019 by Stokesy10

[Baggins7]

Had heard about Greta van Fleet and seen them on some line ups but never gave them a listen until this morning after seeing this about new-age zeppelin and being quite intrigued. Loved it on first listen and shows not to judge a band by its name

[Amy Lawn]

20 hours ago, actionstations said:

They're not in order, I just start with all the songs I like in an iTunes playlist, and delete albums til there's 100 left. I don't look at the previous year's playlist while I'm doing this. I'd recommend it as an exercise if your music collection is organised/rated enough!

Yeah this definitely sounds like a thing I could do instead of anything productive today