What a year for music. Don’t believe me? Then just look at the diversity of all the 2018 year-end Best Of’s. Taking a look at my list makes my heart swell & reminds me of why I still do what I do. The music, man - the music! Like Chelsey Cope at her very best or Skating Polly carving their names on my heart or Broncho when they toured with Billy Idol (I’m still jealous).
Maybe it’s lo moon & Cut Worms cementing me as a lifelong fan or the frenetic energy and youth of Starcrawler, Let’s Eat Grandma, Snail Mail & the Regrettes or possibly that the Fibs & Spesh nailing what makes toes curl in music.
Maybe it's Lily Allen penning the gut wrenching, rips-your-heart song of the year with “Family Man” or that Tom Bailey would deliver the year's most unexpected gem of a record. Or maybe it’s just that "old became new" thing with nostalgic strolls down memory lane with The Police & Bowie. I honestly don’t know what made 2018 a special year for music, but man one thing is for sure: what a year for music!
For my Best Of this year I decided to change it up a bit. I broke them up into sub-categories:
OKLAHOMIES:
Chelsey Cope - Where Nobody Goes
Annie Oakley - Words We Mean
Skating Polly - The Make It All Show
Broncho - Bad Behavior
BABY BANDS (relatively new bands with more than one release):
The Regrettes - Attention Seeker EP & "California Friends" / "Poor Boy" (double single)
Soccer Mommy - Clean
Snail Mail - Lush
Let's Eat Grandma - I'm All Ears
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Hope Downs
Cut Worms - Hollow Ground
ROOKIE BANDS (debuts):
Black Honey - Black Honey
Teenage Wrist - Chrome Neon Jesus
Starcrawler - Starcrawler
The Fibs - The Fibs
Spesh - Famous World
VETERANS:
Suede - The Blue Hour
Metric - Art of Doubt
Lily Allen - No Shame
Tom Bailey - Science Fiction
Manic Street Preachers - Resistance Is Futile
INSTANT CLASSICS:
Arctic Monkeys - Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino
The 1975 - A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships
Lo Moon - Lo Moon
REISSUES & REMASTERS:
David Bowie - Loving the Alien (12 LP box set)
Prince - Piano & A Microphone 1983
Morrissey - Low In High School (2 LP deluxe set)
Howard Jones - Humans Lib (white vinyl set) & Dream Into Action (green vinyl set)
The Police - Every Move You Make: The Studio Recordings (6 LP set)
Soft Cell - Keychains & Snowstorms (10 LP box set)
Wire - Pink Flag / Chairs Missing / 154 (LP & triple CD sets)
Liz Phair - Girly Sound to Guyville (7 LP box set)
-HEBGPzFM
