Top Ten Albums of 2018 (The Needle Drop)

Don't know if you have ever heard of the Needle Drop.  It's a YouTube channel from this crazed music reviewer who somehow listens to more things than I can even imagine trying to hear.  Anthony Fantano.  And he gives great, very descriptive reviews.  Here is his top fifty list.  I found Brockhampton from him last year - he thought Saturation was his favorite, and I agreed, so I thought he might be a good list to get some more cool sounds from.  [spoiler alert: I was extremely wrong.  Like, super duper crazy wrong].

I mean, wait until you get a load of the artists on this list.  If you thought Pitchfork was trying to get cute and pick only the coolest, most hidden, exclusive top ten in the world, old Fantano outdoes himself with this list.

10. Sons of Kemet - Your Queen is a Reptile.  Well, okey doke.  You know, just a jazz/world album in the top ten, by a modern jazz supergroup.  Sure.  And actually, its kinda funky.  But to me, listening to this level of tuba and other brass, all turned to 11 and grooving out, gets old pretty quickly.  They're all amazing at what they do, but I'm good.

Yeah!  Freakout!  Jammitonthaone!  Huh!  Yeah!

9.  Death Grips - Year of the Snitch.  I remember these freaking guys.  Hated their 2017 album, so very very much.  Aggressively angry electronic with a slice of rap in there.  Still hate the first song on this album in the same way, which makes me think if Uncle Luke had been a nihilist serial dog killer making music for the Blade 2 Soundtrack instead of a dude who wanted ass.  I also tried "Black Paint."  I see no reason for anyone to ever think that this album was good, or even fine.  

I'm so sad.  If ever I am being tortured in a dark room like the kid in Ransom, I expect that song to be used.

8.  NoName - Room 25.  Right on.  Very cool album.

7.  harunemuri - harutosyura.  I mean, is homie trolling all of us right now?  World jazz and death electronic noise and Japanese pop punk?  I get it, that he listens to a ton of music and therefore might be on the bleeding edge of popular sound, but what the shit, man?  The tunes are actually kinda tight, for a new Blink 182 album or something, but I have no clue what she is saying.  And none of these songs have very many streams, so it really feels like he's just trying to pump up his own bona fides by making this a top ten album.  Not that you have to listen to only commercially successful music or love things that others are streaming, it just feels weird.  I will not be saving this.

6. Against All Logic - 2012 - 2017.  Oh, OK.  This is kind of traditional sounding house music.  Like some old Moby shit.  Which is a weird thing to be in a top ten list in 2018, but I've actually enjoyed listening to it, so I'll let that go.  Kinda cool.

Yeah, baby.  Still feels like something from 1992 on a soundtrack, but I like it, so I'll just go with it.

5. Parquet Courts - Wide Awake.  Yep, agreed that this is a good album.

4. Natalia Fourcade - Musas.  Mmmkay.  Entirely in Spanish.  Oftentimes very beautiful, such as the lovely lament in "La Llorona," but still, this is very traditional-sounding Mexican music.  Hey look, the most popular track, other than the album opener, is that one I just picked out at the most lovely.  I hear things.  Still though, no need to keep this album.

3.  JPEG Mafia - Veteran.  Dude.  Why have I trusted this guy with any sort of music recommendation?  Top three album of the year?  The beats are whack.  I've given it three tries, and it just doesn't work.  Its actively unpleasant at times.

2.  Kids See Ghosts - Kids See Ghosts.  This is the collaboration between Kanye West and Kid Cudi that came out among the other handful of Wyoming albums from Kanye last fall.  I think this was the third one, and so it likewise has only 7 songs, and feels slightly unfinished and unpolished.  That being said, this is leagues better than most of the albums on this top ten list.  Criminy.  I've never gotten much into the Kid Cudi thing, but he actually sounds pretty good as a gentle foil to Kanye on this album.  The hit is "Reborn" with 74.7 million streams.

Not only is it a pretty good track on its own, and Kanye's verse is actually good, but the message is a good one.  The YouTube comments are full of people talking about how they've pushed out of homelessness or hopelessness and are pushing forward with this tune as the soundtrack.  I like it.  I won't keep this album, but I'm glad I came across that song.

1.  Daughters - You Won't Get What You Want.  Oh criminy.  This is stressful ass stuff.  Angry rock and roll, frequently skipping between time signatures (or even just removing the beat to push a distorted pile of dissonant sounds out).  I even like some heavy stuff, but I just need more tunefulness or groove or something.  This sucks.

Super duper awful.  Please stop.

Sooooo, I can officially stop paying any attention to the ratings of Anthony Fantano!  This list sucks.  I couldn't even finish his top album of the year!  Not a good sign!